


Let's Do This One More Time

by gracesjasons (sweetharry), sweetharry



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Character Death, F/M, Friendship, Isolation, Male Friendship, Origin Story, Popularity, Social Justice, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2020-06-23 16:57:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 96,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19705585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetharry/pseuds/gracesjasons, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetharry/pseuds/sweetharry
Summary: Leo has always felt out of place. Sure, he wasn't like the superheroes in the big city with mind bending powers and lizard scales or anything, but in Leo's hometown, being a poor, latinx, super-nerd is about as different as a person can get. When he heads off to college, all Leo really wants is a chance to start over, but after his accidental acquisition of super powers, Leo must join forces with four other super people to save the city from destruction, and hopefully show the world just how awesome Leo Valdez really is.or, a self indulgent superhero fic born out of my love of into the spiderverse and my belief that Leo Valdez is the hero we all deserve.





	1. Someone would have to be the biggest idiot on the planet to do that

**Author's Note:**

> tw: This chapter includes partying and alcohol consumption

_“Now, you all may be wondering, what is it about our fair city that attracts so many super people? The short answer is, I don’t know. The long answer is that when cities are troubled by monsters, villains, and otherwise evil entities, the universe throws us a lifeline. The most powerful super people are the ones who appear in the worst of times, and I can assure you that we are in the worst of times. We as citizens walk through accepting our dystopian lifestyle that has been burgeoning since 2016, and believe that there are no other forces at play. This is a naive thought, as political climate aside, statistics have shown that crime, incarceration, murder, and almost every other negative aspect of our city has multiplied tenfold, and there is no logical evidence to explain why. A lack of logical evidence and a city climate akin to the handmaid's tale is one thing, as that can be found in almost any city in America, but the presence of a real alliance of super people in our city confirms our fears of the worst of times. Over the past months, super aficionados such as myself, as well as the local papers have collected evidence on these people, trying to prove or disprove their existence, but I can say without a shadow of a doubt that we are indeed in the company of our own assemblance of super protectors.”_

_“Now who are these so-called caped crusaders you might ask? Well, you have about as good a guess as I do. There is no official name for our very own justice league as of yet, but it has become clear that four super people make up this force.”_

_“The first is Metal Man, so aptly named as he is virtually indestructible. From cellphone videos and eyewitness accounts, we can conclude that Metal Man’s abilities range all the way from superhuman strength to bulletproof skin.The unofficial leader of this group, Metal Man is the most public of the four, taking time to rescue civilians and make sure they are out of harm's way before completing his duties. Despite being the most stereotypical, and probably my least favorite member of the group, Metal Man is a fine hero, and one that has time and time again proven that he genuinely cares for the well being of our city and all people living in it.”_

_“On the opposite end of the spectrum is Reaper. Ominous, right? Well for good reason, she’s not your typical superhero. Much like the cultural figure the Grim Reaper, Reaper seems to decide who is worthy of living, and come to “collect” those she believes should die or be incarcerated. Reaper has only recently begun working with the three other super people, and gives a much darker edge to the foursome. Reaper is a trained assassin, skilled in torture, hand to hand combat, and is said to wield any weapon with ease. Though little is known of her backstory or if there are any non-learned superpowers she may possess, experts such as myself believe that Reapers involvement in protecting our city stems from a personal vendetta, one that aims to get back at whoever may have caused the nasty scar on her cheek.”_

_“Out of the super people, the most otherworldly of the four is Opia. We’ve found, after some research, that the name Opia is defined as_ _the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable. We believe that this name was gifted to her, along with the gem that sits in the center of her forehead, that harnesses her powers. Opia is able to fly, but her most important power is the ability to_ _lend and manipulate the emotions of the people around her through words, touch, but most strongly eye contact. Eyewitnesses to Opia’s powers have claimed to feel an intense anger, sadness, or determination in her presence, who believe to be feeding off of the energy of the super person herself. Despite the atypical powers, dealing with those of the mind and the heart rather than your run of the mill super punches and speed, Opia possibly protects the most important parts of our city, the happiness and emotional well being of the people.”_

_“Our final super person is an absolute mystery, as they have only been seen under the cover of darkness. From what we can tell, this super person is not completely human. In fact they are probably more creature than human. They have exhibited incredible strength, invisibility, growing in size, and even some control of the elements. If that’s what we’ve seen now, imagine what more this super person has to offer. There are speculations that this super person may be from a long and well known line of super people, only recently being granted the responsibility of protector, but-“_

“Leo!”

Leo really does hear his mom yelling, but as his headphones are in and is by some miracle focusing on the project in front of him, he chooses to ignore her.

_“These four super people are protecting us, but from what? It’s not just your run of the mill petty criminals, it’s much more-”_

“Leo, I know you can hear me.” his mom calls once again. Leo hesitates a little on his plan to ignore his mom, but he knows exactly what she’s going to say, and he doesn’t want to hear it. 

_“If you have any information on Metal Man, Reaper, Opia, or our secret creature friend, please contact us at-”_

Leo’s door slams open and he jumps two feet in the air, ripping out his headphones and flinging his phone across the desk.

“Jesus mama!” Leo grumbles, after landing back in his seat. “Give a man a warning.”

“Did the two shouts from downstairs not count?” she asks, hands on her hips. “Or do they just not count because you pretended not to hear them?”

Leo can’t help but laugh. His mom doesn’t let him get away with anything, and he doesn’t mind. He can tell from the fond roll of her eyes she’s not mad, as this behavior is standard from Leo. She surveys Leo’s room with a sigh, reaching up to pinch at the bridge of her nose. 

“Mijo, you haven’t packed.”

“I have packed.” Leo insists. It’s an empty retaliation as his room is perfectly intact around him. 

“You’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

“I know!” Leo says. “So I have at the very least, 12 hours before I have to be packed. Plenty of time!”  
“Have you factored in your shift at the garage tonight? Or our quality time because it’s my last night with my son before he leaves for college?”

Leo’s impish grin softens as his mom steps into the room and sits herself on his bed. 

Leo thinks for a second before saying: “If I cut out sleep I can keep both of those things.” 

“Always the innovator, Leo.” his mom laughs. “Now what have you been doing anyways?”  
She easily reaches around her son and retrieves the phone on his desk. Glancing at the screen, her face falls into an expression of disdain.

“Leo, again with the super stuff?”

Leo reaches out and grabs his phone from her grasp. “So what?” he asks. “Why are you so against them?”

“I’m not against them, I just don’t want those nerdy basement dwellers filling your head with a bunch of crazy ideas.” she says, running her hand through Leo’s curls. Even though Leo and his mom have vastly different beliefs when it comes to the super people, he can’t help but nudge closer into her touch. “You are the smartest one in town, but your head is still in the clouds.”

Leo frowns. She’s right, he does have his head up in the clouds, but is that so terrible when his current life isn’t the greatest? Of course he has love for his life and his mom, but his mom and her love for him can’t fix everything. It can’t fix the fact he has no friends or that they struggle to make ends meet every month. 

“Is is so bad to like the idea of someone looking out for us? Someone who can save us?

Leo looks up at his mom, who looks back at him. She looks like she wants to give him some sort of hope, but she stops herself. 

“Those super people don’t save people like us.”

Leo slumps a little. Sometimes he wishes his mother would feed into his aggressive hopefulness and confidence, but he knows that’s not the kind of person she is. 

She leans in and presses a kiss to Leo’s forehead. 

“Please pack.” she says, standing up. “Frank is nice enough to drive you and I don’t want you to keep him waiting.”

And as she walks out of the room, Leo lets out a groan, because Frank. He forgot about Frank. 

Frank is the only other kid from his high school that was smart enough to get into Caltech, so naturally everyone in the whole freaking universe decided they were going to be best friends, travel mates, and roommates too. They’ve gone to school together forever, but Leo wouldn’t call them friends. His mom might, but she has a very loose grasp on Leo’s social life. In the eyes of Leo’s mother, he’s the most popular kid in school. And yeah, that’s cause Leo embellishes so his mom doesn’t worry about him, but still. He only does it because she wouldn’t understand. She wouldn’t understand that even though he’s not in the position to turn down friends, Leo doesn’t want to be friends with Frank because Frank is a loser. Leo is a loser too, but it’s different, okay?

It’s different because Leo is only a loser because he went to high school with a bunch of uptight white people who wouldn’t know charm and top notch humor if it smacked them upside the head. Frank is a loser because he’s a nerdy pushover who never tried to be anything else. Leo on the other hand spent the majority of his early high school years trying to be anything other than himself. Did it make him popular? No. But even worse it made him unhappy, but despite that, Leo never stopped trying to present himself to the world in hopes that he could become something more than what he was. Leo is excited for college he swears, but the real reason he’s actually plucking up the courage to leave his mom and try his hand at college is because he knows this is a huge chance for him to be himself and become the smart, popular guy his mom always thought he was. And not even Frank can hold him back from that. Leo checks his phone, and as the hours of the day dwindle, he thinks his mom is right. He better pack. 

So he does, Leo takes almost a whole hour, which is a huge ass amount of time for Leo to give his undivided attention to something that didn’t interest him all that much. He found himself pretty much shoving all the clothes he owns into some suitcases, and taking a little more time on the actual “stuff” he wanted to bring. His computer was obvious, some movies, and a whole bunch of his scrap metal is what he ended up taking. He’ll only be about an hour away from home, so he doesn’t worry too much about making sure he has everything he wants. If he forgets something, he’ll just come by and get it in the future. His mom already has sheets and laundry detergent, and all the other adult shit for him downstairs, so Leo lugs his two suitcases and two backpacks into their living room and calls it good. He grabs a bag of chips before stealing back up to his room for the remaining hour and a half before his shift at the garage. 

*

His final shift at the garage is bittersweet. One of the only places Leo ever felt like he was loved for being himself gave him the best sendoff he could’ve imagined. A ragtag group of older Latino women, a grungy post grad receptionist, and the oldest grumpiest mechanic on earth somehow managed to throw Leo a surprise party, complete with a homemade cake and many a baby picture of Leo. He didn’t have a grad party as 99% of his classmates didn’t associate with him, so this was especially nice for Leo. Of course after about thirty minutes of festivities everyone hastily took his cake and shoved him to the nearest car to work on but hey, it wouldn’t have been the garage if that wasn’t a part of his final day there. Honestly, Leo couldn’t have imagined a nicer way to spend his night. He changes two oils and actually manages to finish the repairs on an old car he had started about a week ago, and after a sweaty, greasy group hug, Leo heads back home with his mom. And as much as he loves the garage, absolutely nothing can top Leo getting to hang out with his mom. 

She’s busy, really busy, and Leo respects the hell out of her for being a one woman support system, so the times he gets to just be with her are Leo’s favorites. 

They don’t do anything special, just make popcorn and watch a few movies before Leo ends up passing out with his head in her lap. 

It’s warm and calm and familiar ... and over far too quickly when his mom wakes him up the next morning by clanging a couple of pots together. 

“Up and at em’.” she calls with a laugh. “All our money went to your fancy college, so you bet your ass you’re getting up and going.”

Leo groans. “What time is it?”

“6:15, and Frank is coming at 7, so don’t you dare go back to sleep.”

“I wasn’t.” Leo grumbles, although he’s already pulling a pillow back over his head. 

Leo knows he’s got about five seconds before his mom comes over and dumps a bucket of water on his head so he revels in the darkness for four, and then gets himself up. He spends his last 45 minutes at home taking a quick shower, dragging his bags to the living room, and having breakfast with his mom. 

And for the first time, it really hits Leo that he is leaving. He’s leaving the one person who has been there for him and loved him his whole life, to go to an overly expensive college and hang out with Frank Zhang. Not a very good trade if you ask Leo. Leo ignores the fact his heart is starting to ache a little as someone knocks on the door, alerting both Leo and his mom that Frank is here. 

As Leo’s mom welcomes Frank in, he seems to sense that the two of them want a final goodbye, so he starts taking Leo’s stuff out to the car, leaving Leo and his mom a little time alone. 

Leo looks up at her, and he can see tears building up in the corners of her eyes. 

Dammit, he thinks. 

“I’m so proud of you.” she tells him. Leo reaches out and holds her hands in his. “My only son. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to have a life better than the one I had Mijo, and getting to watch you go to college makes me feel like I did it.”

“You did.” Leo assures, pulling her in for a hug. “You did everything right.”

She squeezes him so tight, and Leo can feel her tapping at his back. 

_I love you._ He feels. Morse code. He hugs her tighter and responds, tapping on her back as well. 

_I love you too._

“I’ll only be an hour away.” Leo reminds her as he pulls back. “That’s plenty close for me to come back and annoy you on the weekends.”

“Too close if you ask me.” she laughs. 

Leo leans forward and gives his mom a kiss on the cheek before turning around to see Frank waiting awkwardly in the doorway. 

Leo flushes a little at the fact Frank watched him be all sappy with his mom, but the bigger part of him doesn’t care. Leo could give less of a shit about what Frank thinks about him and his mom. 

Frank clears his throat. “Ready to go?”

Leo glances back at his mom offering her another wave before turning back to Frank.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

*

Being in the car with Frank is surprisingly, not as bad as Leo expected. The only thing is that Frank insists on listening to podcasts over music. Leo holds his tongue on ragging on Frank, because he knows they’re going to live together for the next year, and that allows a thought to come to his mind. 

“Can I choose one?” Leo asks. “I was listening to one yesterday and didn’t get to finish.”

Frank seems a little surprised, but allows it. 

Leo picks up Frank’s phone, easily unlocking it to Frank’s surprise. 

“For future reference, I would think of a better password than 1234, Mr. Zhang.” Leo says, not looking up from Frank’s phone. “Maybe try 0000, or even spelling out Frank in numbers. That’ll ensure you don’t get hacked.”

“Give it a rest.” Frank says, and Leo can tell he’s rolling his eyes. “I just got a new one, and haven’t changed it yet.”

Leo shrugs it off and finds his super podcast easily. This new episode, without a doubt has been the most interesting one in months. The idea that real super people are in Pasadena is crazy to Leo. He fast forwards to where he was the day before, when his mom interrupted him. The familiar voice hums through Frank’s speakers as Leo presses play.

“From what we can tell, this super person is not completely human. In fact they are probably more creature than human. They have exhibited incredible strength, invisibility, growing in size, and even some control of the elements. If that’s what we’ve seen now, imagine what more this super person has to offer. There are speculations that this super person may be from a long and well known line of super people-”

“What is this?” Frank asks, talking over Leo’s podcast.

Leo shrugs. “It’s a show about supernatural stuff in the area.” he explains. “Apparently over the summer, people with special powers have started appearing in the city and fighting the forces of evil.”

“Leo doesn’t that seem a bit farfetched?”

Leo shrugs. “Kind of. I don’t know if it’s real, but my brain really likes trying to piece together all the names and faces to try and figure out if the super people do exist.” He explains. “It’s like a puzzle.”

“Plus,” Leo adds. “Life is total ass in the city lately with murders and racists running everywhere so it would make sense that superheroes would show up and help us out.”

“When you say the city, you mean the city we’re going to right now?”

“Uh duh.”

“Oh good. I’m so glad that we, two young men of color, are willingly headed to the city infested with racist murders.”

“Racists _and_ murders Frank, keep up.”

Frank looks like he might pass out. 

“Cause that’s better.”

“Hey, lighten up dude. College is going to be great.”

*

Leo’s eyes widen when they drive onto campus for the first time. Leo and his mom never had the free time to drive an hour away and take a tour, so Leo committed without ever having been here before. The campus is fucking beautiful. Leo plasters himself to the car window and stares out in awe at the lush green grass, the big elegant buildings, and downtown Pasadena on the horizon. 

After getting through all the move in shenanigans, with many over enthusiastic helpers, Frank and Leo make it to their dorm room in Fleming House. Both also and Frank kind of wormed their way out of bringing the helpers to their room, as both were eager to just get in and unpack. Of course, without the movers it was kind of hard getting all their stuff up to the room, but at least also duped Frank into carrying the majority of it under the pretense that Frank was stronger, and Leo had a sneaking suspicion he was allergic to any physical exertion that doesn’t have to do with engineering. As a result, Leo makes it to the room only slightly winded, while Frank lumbers in behind, short of breath, and dumps his and Leo’s suitcases into the middle of the room. 

“What do you have in those?” Frank huffs. “Rocks?”

”Metal.” Leo says, absentmindedly glancing around the room. 

“Of course it’s metal.” Frank grumbles. “Silly me thinking Leo Valdez would pack normal people things when he goes to college.”

“I didn’t realize we had a bunk bed. Don’t you think we’re paying enough to get separate beds?” Leo asks. “Actually, you can totally take these apart easy, but that’s too much work right now. We’ll just take it apart if we have girls over.”

That elicits a genuine laugh from Frank. 

“What girls?”

“Sexy science girls!”

Frank laughs again. “Let me know when that happens. Can I have the bottom bunk?”

Leo glances around. “As long as I get the desk by the window.”

“Deal.”

*

After an hour of room rearranging and unpacking Leo makes an executive decision. 

“We have to go to a party tonight.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Leo. We just got here! I’m sure they don’t have parties on move in day.” Frank says, glancing over his shoulder at Leo. “And no offense, who is going to invite _us_ to a party?”

“Offense!” Leo says, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “Full offense!”

After some bonding in their dorm room over the past hour, Leo had a hint of an idea that maybe Frank would be an okay friend, and could take on the world of college and popularity with him, but that was wishful thinking. 

Frank sighs. “Come on-“

“I should have figured you wouldn’t want to have fun. Maybe you were fine with having no friends in high school but I’m sick of it! Don’t you realize this is a chance for us to get out of this rut we’ve been stuck in the past eighteen years?”

Frank stiffens for a second before turning all the way around. His expression seems to be a mix of pity and guilt, which Leo doesn’t care for at all. 

Frank thinks for a second. He always seems to think before he talks, which is something Leo never does. Finally, Frank speaks. 

“I guess no one here knows us.”

And with those words, an unexpected grin finds it way into Leo’s face. 

“Exactly!”

Frank rolls his eyes. “You know what, I’ll compromise. I have plans tonight already, but I’ll help you finds a party to go to.”

“What plans?” Leo snorts. “Checking out the lab on campus?”

Frank gets a bashful looks on his face. 

“You’re kidding me.”

“It’s fun for me.” Frank says, flatly, knowing not to argue the matter any further. 

Leo also decides it’s not the time to argue with Frank further so he concedes. 

“Fine. But promise me you’ll let me drag you to one party before we graduate.”

Frank chuckles. “Fine. I promise.”

The two boys spend the next hour that they should be unpacking, downloading apps and join all the Caltech class of ‘23 groups.

And surprisingly, before long, Frank finds a party. 

“One of my friends who I met in the chat said there’s a party about a block away from campus. It’s not a frat, but it’s close.” Frank says, glancing up at Leo. “Is that good enough for you?”

“Sounds perfect.”  
Frank texts Leo the information and Leo wastes the remainder of the day getting ready for the party. He christens the shower, before any of the other guys on his floor can make it gross, and gets dressed in an outfit that he hopes is cooler than what he usually wears, but also not fancy enough to make it weird. He can’t resist, however, throwing on a pair of his suspenders on to make it more him. As much as Leo wants to make a good impression, he is physically incapable of trading in his own personality for ultimate coolness. 

Through the few parties he has attended, Leo has learned that showing up on time is not the coolest thing to do, so he waits around for awhile before deciding to head out. 

“If you need a ride, please…” Frank begins, spinning around in his desk chair. “Don’t call me. I’ll be busy. With that in mind, try not to die.”

“But if I died, you’d get your tuition paid for.” Leo points out. 

“Valid point. Have fun.”

*

Leo really thought that a party full of underage drinkers would be harder to find. He literally walks out of his dorm, and turns the corner, and the blaring music and the giant bonfire pretty much give it away. Once Leo walks through the gates, he takes in the contents of the party. About a hundred people in the backyard, one speaker system that Leo could dismantle and put back together into something cooler in about twenty minutes, probably twenty bottles of alcohol on a table which Leo knows is not enough to get all these people drunk, and enough weed smoke in the air that Leo forgets what taking in clear oxygen feels like. Yep. This is a party. 

A second after stepping in, Leo has an unconscious flashback to high school upon realizing just how many of the people here are white. Exactly 99.9% of them. Leo’s got nothing against white people, but the ones from his home city weren’t his favorite in the world. 

He has to remind himself that this isn’t home. This is a group of people like him, of above average intelligence who are going to think Leo is hilarious and awesome. Because, he objectively is. Another objective fact is that Leo is blessed with a heightened sense of self confidence, and that is what propels him towards the nearest group of guys. 

“Hey!” Leo says, approaching the pong table. They turn to him, and for a split second Leo has an irrational fear that the guys are going to spit on him or lob him over the gate, but they don’t. “I would ask if you guys had any weed, but I think the concentration in the air is enough to get the entire city high.”

Instead, the entire table erupts into laughter. 

“I know right.” The nearest guys says. “It’s fucking insane. Hey, I need a pong partner, you up for it?”  
Leo grins. “Hell yeah.”

Leo is terrible at beer pong. Like it’s funny how bad he is. His hands are always tapping or shaking and he’s got zero aim which all adds up to a lot of balls lost to the grass. 

He thinks to himself that if he had an hour with that shitty speaker system, he could rip out some of the unimportant parts and make himself a metal arm that improves his aim, but he knows that’s for sure an illegal advantage. Leo thought his partner would mind his lack of ability, but he definitely just lobbed a handful of Doritos into the opposing team’s cup so winning doesn’t seem to be the highest priority of the night. 

After losing pong, Leo is flying high. The alcohol is starting to loosen him up and Leo makes a beeline towards the guys and few girls sitting around the campfire. They look cool and Leo feels cool, so he sits himself down to join the conversation. 

“Not to brag but I just lost miserably at beer pong.” Leo says, chuckling. “Who knew I could be physically incapable of aiming a ball into a cup?”

The group falls silent and glances over him. 

“It’s really not that hard.” the guy beside him says. “It’s just physics.”

“Well yeah, but I’m an Engineering major Leo says, trying for another joke.

“You say that like engineering isn’t just an application of physics and mathematics.”

Leo’s brain starts short circuiting, reaching for something to salvage the conversation. These are supposed to be the people who like Leo. Smart people are supposed to be his people, his new friends. But these guys just seem like jerks.

“Well, you guys are a fun crowd.” Leo comments. “But I should probably get-”

He stops as absolutely all of them stopped being interested in the conversation. 

“Going.” he finishes, before standing up and muttering under his breath. “I’m sure you guys have better things to do like helping each other walk around with those sticks up your asses.”

Leo wishes that he could say the night went up from there, but truth be told it didn’t. Leo doesn’t have nearly as much luck as he did with pong. When Leo hit the crowds of significantly less drunk people, and the crowds of predominantly girls, his charm started to falter. Jokes weren’t landing, and it got to the point where Leo felt like getting a side eye or a half hearted conversation was better than feeling invisible. 

And just like that, Leo feels like he’s flailing. He’s drowning in the middle of the party that reminds him far too much of high school, and he needs to latch onto someone to survive. 

He desperately looks around, before licking eyes on the group of guys on the back porch. From the way they’re a little off balance, Leo thinks they’re intoxicated, which is a good sign. He also notices one of the guys has a dungeons and dragons shirt on which is also good. Leo sucks up any amount of insecurity that could’ve slipped out and tells himself that he’s awesome, and everyone thinks so, before trudging over to the group of guys. Leo steps up behind them, puts his arms around two of their shoulders, and ducks his head in between. 

Leo had some clever joke to make, but that dissipates as soon as he sees what the guys are all crowding around. 

“What the fuck?”

No one responds, as they continue smashing the weird pink rock with the blunt end of a whiskey bottle. 

“No, seriously.” Leo tries again. “What the fuck are you guys doing?”

The guy next to him turns with a laugh. 

“I’m doing an undergraduate research project with one of the geology professors. Basically I just look at weird rocks and shit. Prof said he didn’t need this one, so I brought it here and thought that if we broke it down into powder, we could get someone to snort it.”

Leo laughs so hard his eyes start to water. 

“Guys, no way.” Leo says, but even as he says it, the cogs in his brain starting to turn. “Someone would have to be the biggest idiot on the planet to do that.”

_Literally one minute later_

“I SNORTED IT.”

A chorus of raucous cheers explodes around Leo, which makes him feel invincible for two whole seconds before his face feels like it’s on fire. 

“Dude, that was fucking crazy!” The guy next to Leo says, but his voice seems to echo far away from Leo’s mind. “I like you!”

Leo manages a little bit of a nod, before wiping some of the residual crystals underneath his nose. 

Leo’s never snorted anything before sans a pixie stick on the school bus in seventh grade, but he’s fairly certain those crystals should have been more fine. Then maybe the inside of his nose might not feel like someone stabbed him with a thousand tiny knives, or like he could snot out an entire engagement ring any moment. 

Part of Leo is like, you know what, this is fine. Life has sucked much more than being popular at a party and having a little head pain due to unknown shiny rocks entering his body, but then his vision starts spotting. His eyelids feel heavy, and his ears start ringing, and he feels so HOT. 

It’s in that moment, he comes to terms with the fact he’s made a huge fucking mistake. He stumbles over to a bench and rubs at his nose harshly, like he’s trying to strip some of the grease off an old car, but it doesn’t help. 

He shoves his head into his hands, and mutters to himself. “I’m so stupid.”

“Yeah. You are.”

Leo’s head whips up and his entire oxygen supply cuts out because right beside him, offering him a cup is a girl. 

A human girl. 

A _really pretty_ human girl.

“I saw you take the idiot’s challenge and I thought you might want this.” she says, pushing the cup closer toward Leo. “It’s water.”

Leo is embarrassed, but the physical suffering overrules that in this moment. 

“Thanks.” he manages, taking the drink. “Got anything for a burning nose or a stupid brain?”

The girl gives an over dramatic sigh. “The one night, I leave my stupid brain fixer at home is the one time someone needs it.”

Leo laughs, which his body immediately reprimands him for by throwing him into a fit of coughing. 

“Okay.” the girl says, setting on hand on Leo’s back, and the other around his hands to raise the cup to his mouth. “Why don’t we take a drink?”  
Leo, feeling even more like an idiot, allows the pretty girl to help him like he’s a baby. He knows that the majority of his face is red due to snorting crystals, but a part of it is for sure Leo blushing. The cool liquid rushes down his throat and gives him enough energy to glance back over at his saving grace. 

“So,” she says, folding her hands in her lap. “What possesses a person to snort an unidentified brightly colored substance at a party? You go here, I’m assuming, which means you’re smart. So, what’s the deal?”

Leo would rather have the pretty girl think he’s stupid, than have her think he snorted crystals to try and impress frat guys enough to be his friend. 

“I don’t really have an excuse.” he admits. “Didn’t think it would turn out this bad.”

“Nothing about the fact no one else dared to try it turned you off?”

Leo laughs again. “Nope.”

“I guess ignorance is bliss.” she says, laughing a little too. 

“What’s your name?” Leo asks confidently, stuttering only a little as he began.

“Hazel.” she tells him. 

A beat passes. 

“Do I get to know yours?”

Leo contemplates that. “Well here’s the thing, I don’t know if I want to give out my identity on the most embarrassing night of my life.”

“Oh come on!” she presses, nudging his shoulder. “I’m sworn to secrecy. I’m wiping this night from my brain as we speak. In about a minute, this whole experience will be no more than a fuzzy memory.”

Leo feels warmth in his chest as she talks to him. Never in his life has a girl gone so far out of her way to help him, or get to know him. 

“Fine, fine. I’m Leo.”

Hazel smiles at him. “Now was that so hard?”

Uh yeah, it was, because this is the longest conversation Leo’s ever had with a living breathing girl beside his mom. 

Before Leo can formulate a reply, he gets hit with another heat wave. God dammit. Leo knows he never would’ve been in this situation talking to Hazel if it hadn’t been for the whole him being on the verge of dying, but could his body chill out for a second while he talks to her? Is that too much to ask?

This time, the heat wave pulses through his fingertips, down to his toes, and to the top of his head, as if flames are now circulating through his bloodstream. He winces a little, but he’s determined to not let Hazel see him internally combust. 

“I, uh, should get home.” Leo finds himself saying. “My roommate is kind of a nervous homebody type and I promised I’d get home alive.”

Hazel nods, and as Leo stands up, wobbling a little, she stands up right beside him and puts her hand around his waist. Leo’s eyes widen. He looks over at her, and she furrows her brows. 

“Sorry, I just can’t let you walk home alone. I mean what if you try and snort some rocks by the sewer?”

“I promise I’m not snorting anything else for the rest of my life.”

“But what if you died on the way home?” Hazel asks, starting to walk with Leo in tow. “If I read a headline about that tomorrow, I’d feel guilty.”

Leo coughs again. “Valid point.”

And so Leo allows Hazel to escort him all the way back to his dorm. His brain starts to go fuzzy as they reach the entrance to his building, so he slumps onto the door frame to produce his key. 

He gets into the door and throws Hazel a lazy smile. 

“Can you make it from here?”

Leo nods. “Easy peasy.” he tells her. “Thank you for the assistance, ma’am.”  
Hazel laughs, and offers him a salute. “Anytime captain.”

She turns to leave, so Leo quickly sputters out a: “See you around?”

She turns over her shoulder and smiles. “See you around.”

Leo stumbles up to his dorm room, and barely registers that Frank still isn’t home, through his feverish and wobbly undressing, before clambering up to his bed and passing out.


	2. Leo is convinced he is going to die

When Leo wakes up the next morning, his entire body aches. He didn’t think it was possible to feel a white hot prickling heat through his entire body, but alas here he is. 

Is this what a hangover feels like? Is this what’s happening? 

People say hangovers make your body hurt and make you feel tired and stuff, but this seems way too painful to be a hangover. Leo rolls over in bed, wincing as he does so, until he can see Frank sitting at his desk. He looks about the same as yesterday, except for some dark circles under his eyes, and the toaster strudel in his hand. 

“I made it back alive,” Leo rasps, sounding like someone blew dust down his throat before allowing his to speak. 

Frank chuckles. “Barely.”

“Hey look who’s talking! I got home before you.” Leo says. “Was the lab particularly randy last night?”

Frank rolls his eyes. “I was only at the lab for like an hour. Then I just went back to my friends’ apartment and played board games. We didn’t keep track of time, and then suddenly it was 3am!”

“Sounds really fun.” Leo admits, because it does.“It was fun.” Frank agrees. “How was yours?”

Leo feels jealousy seep into his mind at the fact Frank had a better night than he did. Frank got to have a night, and talk to people who are actually his friends, and what did Leo have? A body full of pain and weird powder and a meeting with a cute girl.

Whoa. Leo almost forgot about the girl. Hazel! That was her name, Leo’s pretty sure. 

Leo thinks for about two seconds about lying to Frank, embellishing his night to make it more appealing to Frank, but he doesn’t see the point. Leo’s on the verge of death, and Frank is going to be his roommate the whole year so he might as well know what he’s getting into with Leo.

“Kind of shitty. My full potential of idiocy came to fruition which was an L, but I _did_ meet a cute girl.”

“Seriously? What does she look like?”

Leo tries to remember what she looks like, he really does, but each time he tries to recall the memory, his brain aches. 

“Genuinely can’t remember, but she _was_ real and she _was_ hot.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Frank smiles. “By the way, how are you, dude? You look terrible.”

“Thanks for the self esteem booster, Frank.”

Frank raises his hands in submission. “I’m just saying.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I just need to eat something and take a shower. I’m fine.”

*

Leo is not fine. All his personal persuasive speeches don’t have the ability to make him think otherwise. Leo’s physical state only worsens, and keeps him in bed throughout the entirety of Welcome Week. Leo stays in with a fiery sickness burning a hole in his stomach, while he watches Frank go out and have fun with all the new smart people they now go to school with. It’s almost like Leo’s living his own personal nightmare. 

On day four of Leo’s unending pain, and a number of WebMD searches, he is convinced he’s going to die. 

Should I write my mom a note? he wonders. Let her know what happened? 

But the question is how do you explain to your mom that you threw away everything the two of you worked for in getting to college only to die a week after getting there? Leo’s not sure. 

About halfway through the note, he crumples it up and tosses it behind him, pinging off the garbage can and landing on the floor. He pulls himself up out of his chair and decides that he refuses to die, specifically because he can't leave his mom alone. And if he died he would just be patiently awaiting her wrath in the afterlife. 

Miraculously, going outside and getting sunlight makes him feel better, and by the first day of classes, Leo actually feels okay. Just aggressively congested. The burning in his body is now a dull ache, leaving Leo with skin warm to the touch. His class isn’t till 10, so Leo has a nice amount of time to himself as Frank was up and out by 8am. Leo gets dressed and shoves some scrap metal and a full box of tissues into his already disorganized backpack and heads off to his first class of his college career: Differential Calculus. 

*  
When Leo gets into class, it’s about what he expected. Whole lotta white people in glasses. It’s not a bad thing, but especially in settings like this, Leo likes to find solace in the fact that other students that look like him are also here, but he hasn’t seen one. He’s not even going to try and pretend he doesn’t look for Hazel. He scans the entire lecture hall for her, before dropping himself down in a seat near the middle. He contemplates trying to find someone to sit and talk with, but that can wait till next class. Currently, Leo is focusing on getting his brain together enough to focus on whatever the professor is going to talk about. Leo sets his backpack on the ground, which causes the clang of metals to emanate through the classroom. Leo looks up, expecting to see some stares, but to a room full of engineers, this seemed all too normal. And that made Leo’s spirits rise just a bit. 

*  
Class is.. Fine. The whole time is spent looking through the syllabus that Leo read through in about ten seconds flat. Leo knows this is important stuff, but he’s itching to get into the actual work. Math goes hand in hand with what Leo likes, building and creating, so Leo wants nothing more than for the class to get on with it. As his professor spoke, Leo busied himself by pulling some of the pieces he’d thrown in his backpack out, and letting his hands go wild as his mind stayed tuned in on the lesson at hand. 

The class overall went smoothly, but in the last five minutes, Leo feels the burning sensation return to his body, centering itself in his face. It’s a different kind of burning, though. This burning is like small white hot flames pricking inside his nose. It almost tickles, but that way it makes his head pound cancels that fun feeling out.

He feels like he has to sneeze. A massive sneeze, that with one blow could probably empty out the contents of his congested sinuses. The second class ends, he shoves his syllabus in his backpack and takes out the box of tissues, before heading out of the building. He finds a bench right behind the building overlooking a little pond and drops down his stuff. 

Leo gears up with a handful of tissues, ready to shoot out a cannonball of boogers, lifts it up to his nose, and blows.

He blows with his whole being and it feels like he sneezed out his own brain in the best way possible. He sighs, and opens his eyes to glance at the probably disgusting contents of his tissues, but when he does, he screams. 

He screams because there’s no boogers, there’s not even tissues anymore, there’s just black charred pieces in his hands that are currently doused in orange flames. 

Leo’s brain short circuits for two seconds because he can see the fire on his hands, but he can’t feel anything so his brain takes a minute to process, before he screams his head off again and dives headfirst into the pond. He stays underwater as long as he can hold his breath, before bursting up and quickly looking at his hands that look completely unharmed. 

He flips them around a couple of times, looking for any sign of the fact that his hands were covered in flames a minute ago, but there’s none. 

Leo’s mind is racing. He knows it wasn’t a hallucination. He’s been sick all week, and someone who wants an easier explanation would have thought that their mind was playing tricks on them, but Leo knows he saw what he saw. His mind whips back to the days before at the party. Leo doesn’t know why but his gut feeling is that this has to be connected to that stupid thing he did all those nights ago. Maybe what he snorted wasn’t just some dumb old rock. Maybe all those hero podcasts are getting to him, but maybe that rock actually did something to him and-

“Hey, need a hand?”

Leo, reeling from his revelations looks up at the guy offering him an outstretched hand. 

Leo’s eyes are wide. He can’t really find any words as his mind is still elsewhere, but he manages to take the guys hand and help himself up. 

“How’d you get in there?” the guy asks with a laugh. “I mean I’m a fan of water myself but I usually prefer a larger body of water, less inhabited by poor ducks.”

Leo glances back at the ducks sitting on the edge of the pond, visibly afraid of him after he dove into their home. 

“I sneezed and fell in.” Leo says, and the guy laughs his head off. 

“That’s fucking funny.” he says, punching Leo in the arm. “Are you a freshman?”

Leo nods. 

“Makes sense.” the guy says. “See you around freshman, try not to fall into any fountains around campus.”

The second the guy turns his back to leave, Leo runs to grab his stuff and continues running. He runs faster than he has before, feeling no trace at all of fatigue. He only stops when he hits the area behind his dorm building. Leo quickly pulls some more tissues out and shakes his head, trying to get another sneeze to come out. He winds up like he’s going to sneeze, but nothing comes out. Leo rubs at his nose, running over to the grass and ripping some out to tickle his nose, but it doesn’t help. 

“Oh come on!” Leo says angrily, throwing the tissues on the ground. “I can shoot fire out of my nose on accident but not on purpose? What bullshit is that?”

Leo lifts his hands up and stares at them, completely frustrated. 

“Just light on fire already!”

His hands respond. Leo gasps as he stares at his hands encased in flames. There’s no heat or pain, but the flames are wrapped around his skin like gloves. 

Leo knows this should freak him out. He should drive himself home or turn himself over to the government or something but Leo knows that would end badly. He also doesn’t know anything about this beside the fact he can light his hands on fire. It’s in Leo’s nature to figure out everything about a problem, every small piece that makes up the greater whole, and that’s what he has to do. 

Leo bites down on his lip and pulls his hand back before throwing it forward like he’s throwing a ball. 

In doing so he lobs a small mass of fire at the side of his building. The brick catches, and the flame begins to spread. 

“Oh shit!” Leo cries, shaking his hands “Off off, fire off.”

Somehow his hands comply, and Leo runs to the building and begins slapping at the flames. He feels nothing as the flames dissipate, leaving only black burn marks on the bricks. 

Leo hopes he doesn’t have to pay for that. 

He looks back at his hands in wonderment. 

Leo had always prided himself on his ability to do amazing things with his hands. He could fix anything, he would create his own stupid little robots and inventions throughout his whole life, but this… this is something else entirely. His hands, and maybe other parts of his body, subject to discovery, now have this whole power that Leo doesn’t know what to do with. 

He did one stupid thing, that he thought might affect him for a night but now, this seems like that one stupid decision changed his entire life. 

It’s only then that the nature of the situation really starts to set in for Leo. 

His hands can set on fire. He can’t get burned. He feels no pain wielding one of the hottest substances on earth. What is he supposed to do?

A knot forms in Leo’s stomach as he slumps down against the spot where he charred his dorm wall. 

What now? Leo can barely take care of himself as is. How does an 18 year old cope with the fact that they have fire power? Does this force some obligation onto him to save people and burn down evil villains? Is he a part of X men now? So many questions that absolutely no one has the answer to. 

Well. Leo thinks. Actually someone might. 

Leo changes into a hoodie, even in the California sun, so he can shove his hands into his pockets. He grabs his backpack, phone, and headphones, and shoves them in, starting from the beginning of his Superhero podcast and jogs to the library. 

*

An hour later, Leo is surrounded by books. Books about superheroes. Flash, Batman, Superman, the effects of superhero characters on our own society, and everything in between. Leo’s brain is on autopilot as he rips through information and scrawls it into the pages of his notebook. He reads of origin stories and the different ways people achieve powers. Leo chocks his up to the trope “Lucky Accident” or a once in a lifetime malfunction, or lapse in judgement on Leo’s part, the results in a power. It’s stupid, but reading about these heroes calms Leo. That, in tandem with his superhero podcast talking about people with powers in their own city makes him feel.. Less alone. More level headed about the situation. It’s not like Leo is going to go out web slinging and fighting crime anytime soon, but he can think about the fact that he's got fire hands without losing his mind. 

After an in depth book sort, Leo checks his phone and realizes he has about five minutes to get to his second class of the day. Thankfully his second class is near the library, so Leo apologetically leaves hs books in a mess and bounds out the door with his backpack. Leo runs into class a minute late, and all eyes turn to him. He freezes in the doorway for a second, before a laugh draws his attention. He averts his gaze from the professor to the source of the laugh, and everything that had happened to him today floats away as he sees Hazel. 

Hazel. He knows it’s her. He may have been a wee bit turnt when they met, but Leo knew that when he saw her face he’d recognize her. 

Leo tosses an apology to the professor and hastily grabs a chair, and pulls it right over to Hazel’s table, not really caring there wasn’t enough room for him there. 

“You have a habit for making yourself the center of attention, don’t you?”

“It’s a gift.”

She chuckles a little, turning back to the professor.

She glances at Leo briefly, before looking back at the professor. Then she does it again. 

“Glad to see you’re not dead.” she says with a teasing smile. “It’s been eating away at me.”

“Oh come on.” Leo says, trying to feign confidence despite the fact his heart is beating so loudly he’s sure he can hear it. “It takes more than a funky rock to kill Leo Valdez.”

Actually. Leo’s not sure about that. He could’ve said that with confidence a day ago, before he learned that he had fucking fire powers. Oh god. Leo forgot about that. Damn his brain. It goes so fast sometimes, flitting from thing to thing, especially in the presence of a girl like Hazel, that sometimes the important stuff gets lost. Namely the fact that he is now basically a mutant. 

Leo really needs to get a handle on when it’s an appropriate time to think about girls and when you should be thinking about the fact you have superpowers. But right now, Hazel is prettier than he remembered, so he doesn’t foresee that change coming anytime soon.

Hazel laughs again. “Clearly.”

Leo finds himself opening his notebook and pretending to scribble some notes while his mind is focused on Hazel. He usually starts off scribbling nothing, but as they often do, his hands take on a mind of their own and genuinely seem to be writing down whatever their professor is droning on about. 

“So listen.” Hazel says, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “You seem pretty cool. I mean like, you do seem a bit chaotic and unstable, but cool nonetheless.”

Leo’s brain only registered the compliment and his ears reddened. He considered saying something, but he could already feel stuttered words building up on his tongue. 

“So, I wanted to ask you if you were free this weekend.” she says, and Leo’s eyes widen. Is this… _a date?_ Is Hazel asking him on a date? He tries to formulate a response, something along the lines of “ _other than testing out my dangerous new superpower on unsuspecting trash cans, no”,_ but before he can Hazel leans down and grabs a folded piece of paper out her backpack. She unfolds it and subtly hands it to Leo. 

He looks down at it with furrowed brows. 

“There’s this protest at city hall this weekend.” she tells him. “The mayor here totally sucks and we want to try and prevent her reelection as best we can.” 

Leo looks it over, and the flyer reads similar to what Hazel is saying. 

“It’s just-” Hazel cuts herself off. “There isn’t a lot of people on campus here who seem like they give a shit about things other than science. Which I give a shit about science, but I give a shit about other people too. I don’t know you very well, but I think that’s something we might have in common.”

Leo glances over, and Hazel watches him, her gaze a mix of hopeful and expectant. She’s right, Leo thinks. He gives a shit about other people. What they think, how they treat him, why they act the way they do, and he often thinks about how much better of a place the world would be if everyone treated other people just a little bit better. If they took a lesson from Leo’s mom in being a kind and unwaveringly strong person, then most of the problems would disappear. 

Leo liked that he saw bits of him mom in Hazel, and he thinks that befriending her and trying out new stuff in college would probably be the best thing for him in his current state of confusion and fear. 

Leo is confident in his ability to get the college experience through time with Hazel, and he feels like maybe, on the side, dealing with and learning to control his fire hands could maybe be managed as well. In all honesty, Leo is incredibly hopeful. 

“I’ll be there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter!  
> Sorry for the ungodly wait time. I decided to publish chapter one right before I went into the busiest time of my life which in hindsight wasn't the best move haha. Now I've got a lot more time freed up so hopefully chapters can come more frequently.  
> I'm still figuring out my voice for this fic and the exact details on where it's going but I'm having so much fun exploring the superhero genre and I hope ya'll enjoy this as well!  
> Thank you for the kudos and I hope u enjoy reading!


	3. I'll Protect You

Leo spent his Friday night making a list entitled:

_ LEO’S SUPER ICONIC ON FIRE POWERS TESTS _

_ Things to Test: _

  * _Limits to fireproofness (Does it include clothes?)_
  * _Throwing fire_
  * _Single finger flames_
  * _Can I light my whole body on fire like the human torch?_
  * _Did any physical attributes improve like strength, endurance, speed, etc.?_
  * _Can I use fire to heat up food?_



_ Things Needed: _

  * _Bucket of water_
  * _Candles_
  * _Frying pan_
  * _Egg_
  * _Extra clothes probably_
  * _Some books on weird rocks because along with testing powers I have a deep seeded desire to figure out what the fuck is happening to me_
  * _Fire extinguisher_



Leo already has everything he needs except for the books, so he takes the time out of his very busy lifestyle of dicking around on the internet and looking at Hazel’s instagram to go to the library. He knows he should probably look up why the mayor sucks so that tomorrow when he shows up to the protest tomorrow that Hazel  _ personally invited him to,  _ he doesn’t appear like a complete and total bonehead, so that gives him another reason to head to the library. 

Not wanting to waste too much time, Leo heads directly to the info desk in the library to get one of the workers to help him find his stuff. If Leo had free reign, he could rip through any genre of books in here for hours, but now is not the time for that. 

“Hey.” Leo says, tapping the desk lightly to alert the blonde guy kneeling down below the desk. 

The guy turns around, and stands up, proving to be significantly taller than Leo which intimidates him. Well, it intimidates him until the guy gives him a dopey smile. 

“Sorry. Hi. Can I help you?”

“Yeah.” Leo says, scratching the back of his head. “Could you help me find a book on rocks and shit?”

The guy laughs, this big booming laugh. “That’ll be in the geology section.” he says, stepping out from behind the desk. “It’s a slow night with everyone out partying. I’ll take you.”

Part of Leo wished the guy would’ve just told him where it was so he could go, but Leo’s never been in the face to turn down company, or even someone just trying to help him, so he follows the guy. 

“So what’s with the geology interest?” the guy asks, glancing over his shoulder at Leo. “Starting a rock garden or something? Hippie stuff like that is pretty popular around here.”

As much as he needed a lie to cover up why he was getting the book, Leo was not going to let some guy walk around thinking Leo genuinely owned a rock garden.

“Nah, just for a class.”

The guy gives Leo a funny face as he reaches up and pulls down three books on rocks. “Geology as a freshman class?” he asks, passing Leo his books. “You’ve got a weird schedule.”

“I’m a weird guy.” Leo lets slip out, feeling increasingly more uncomfy in his current situation. 

The library guy shrugs and walks Leo back to the desk to check him out. Thankfully the process goes by without any further comments, and Leo easily slinks over to the row of computers to take a minute to look up this mayor. 

After one google search, Leo’s brain ingests the information out in front of him. After a five minute look through, Leo has gathered the mayor is a woman named Hera Sospita. Apparently she held no governmental position before mayor, and also somehow managed to win over an incredibly liberal city in California and get elected as their first conservative mayor in a hundred years. There was no picture, and little information about her work before being mayor, but for some reason, Leo feels like he remembers her. Like they’d met before. That’s unrealistic though, because Leo and his mom are from outside the city in a little town, but still. He can’t shake that feeling. He does his best to anyway, and shuts of the computer and heads out of the library. He makes it back to his dorm, and drops the books on his table. Frank is gone, and even though this is prime time to be reading up on secret stuff and doing fire tricks, but Leo is lazy. And he wants to watch a movie, so he’s putting that on the back burner for tonight. As he flicks on his movie though, Leo can’t help feeling jealous once again that Frank, the only person in the world who was supposed to be more of a loser than Leo, is out on a Friday night and Leo is stuck inside with nothing fun but a trip to the library and a laptop movie marathon. 

Oh well. Leo knows no matter what happens, at least he has fire hands and Frank doesn’t.

*

“Okay.” Leo says, taking in a deep breath. “Test One.”

“It’s bright and early on Saturday morning, no college students in site, and Leo is ready to begin his testing montage. 

Test one is for improved physical attributes. Leo’s really starting with this one because he wants to know if this magic rock did anything to improve his lanky arms and legs, maybe gave him the ability to lift a car above his head like Metal Man or something fun like that. Leo crosses the street to the little black car parked at a meter, makes sure no one is around, then squats down to slip his hands under the back bumper. With a deep breath, and a tightened core, Leo lifts up and to his amazement…

The car stays put and only offers Leo’s a shooting string of pain in his arms like a strained muscle. 

“Jeez.” Leo murmurs, pulling back his now dirty hands. “Really? No super strength to spare up at the super workshop?”

Leo’s shouts to the heavens are ignored, so he just grumbles over and crosses that one off his list. Next is speed. Leo gets a little stretch in, and then runs full speed ahead toward the building across from him. To his surprise, his feet carry him faster than usual. Being the scrawny boy he is, Leo’s always been a little bit quick on his feet, but now it’s even better. He wouldn’t classify the speed as superhuman, more enhanced. He doesn’t feel winded at all, and there’s a distinct lack of sweat that usually resides on the back of his neck when he runs. 

Test three is single finger flames. Leo drags the candles he bought out of the bag and sets them up outside because they’re not allowed in the dorm, and Frank would most likely have an aneurysm if Leo set off the fire alarm. So outside is best. Leo stands himself in front of them, and tugs his bottom lip in between his teeth, eyes closed in concentration. When he opens his eyes, he grins at his pointer finger lit up with a flame. He laughs excitedly and lights the nearest candle. 

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

“Can I get one on every finger?” he questions aloud. “Like I’m at a birthday party and they’re all like ‘OH NO WE FORGOT THE LIGHTER HOW CAN WE EVER GO ON?’ and I show up like BAM.”

Leo whips his hand out to reveal a tiny flame at the end of each of his fingers. He grins at his hand, lighting each candle, before blowing his hand out in one blow. He checks it off the list.

*

The conclusive results from testing is that yes, Leo can cook an egg with his powers, yes his whole body is fireproof, and yes he can light his arms and legs on fire as well. Leo think he might be able to do the human torch thing at some point, but right now it takes too much out of him. Trying to think about it makes his body feels like it’s melting like an ice cream cone left out when it’s 100 degrees. On the negatives, Leo found out he’s pretty shit at throwing fire. It’s just like a weak mass that burns for a second and leaves a bad mark. He also learned that no matter how much he tried, how much he concentrated, he can’t get his regular clothes to be fireproof. He tried, many times, and now he’s left with shirts burned beyond repair, and one crop top with blackened edges. He decides to go with the crop top to wear, because it’s got the most actual shirt left. He’s in said freshly burned crop top when he finishes up and realizes it’s about the time he’s gotta get on a bus to head to Hazel’s protest. He grabs his backpack, and quickly shoves all his supplies in, sans the egg, which he eats, and then hops the nearest bus to city hall. Leo has spent a lot of his life feeling out of place, and heading to this protest, he expected that he would feel similar once he got there. He would only know one person, he didn’t know a lot about mayor Hera, and he’s never really been to a protest, so it’s almost inevitable that he'll feel like an outsider. 

When he gets there though, Leo feel strangely…home. 

When he tried to imagine what it would be like, he imagined four college students, two of them being him and Hazel, trying and failing to chain themselves to the doors of City Hall. But this.. This was so much better. 

“Are you here for the protest?” a woman, who reminds him so much of Nyssa the mechanic from back home, asks him. 

“Uh yeah.”

She grins. She hands him a leaflets with chants on it and ushers him in with a warm hand on his shoulder. As he searches through the crowd of about 50 people of all ages and walks of life, he can’t help but smile at the amazing energy radiating from these people. People who are taking time out of their days to try and make a difference. It takes a while, but once Leo makes it closer to the front, he finds Hazel with a megaphone in her hand. 

“Hazel!” he calls out. She turns and regards him with a laugh before running over and pulling him into her embrace. Leo’s heart beats against his chest and his stomach flip flops as he hugs her back. Excitement bubbles up in him inside him to the point where he’s afraid he might start lighting up with flames so he tries to relax. 

“I’m so glad you came.” she beams before laughing again. “In a crop top!”

“It’s my new look.” he informs her, giving a little twirl. “What do you think?”

“Oh it’s just fabulous darling.”

Without another word, she hooks her arm around him and easily drags him back towards where she was standing. She glances around and gets a furrow in her brow.    
“I lost Jason.” she says, like Leo is supposed to know who Jason is. “He was just here.”

She turns around and her face lights up. “Found him. Ugh. He always has to be helping someone.”

She points forward and Leo’s eyes focus on the blonde guy from the library. The one with the big smile and the rock garden, currently helping an older couple with directions. 

Hazel calls out to him, and his face lights up. He finishes up with the older couple before jogging over to them. 

“Hey!” he says, turning to Leo. “Good to see you again, man.”

“You guys know each other?”

“Not really.” Jason says. “I just helped him with a few books.”

“Well then. Jason this is Leo and Leo this is Jason.”

Jason offers Leo a hand and he takes it. 

“He’s the one who snorted the rock powder.” Hazel says to Jason, in the loudest whisper voice imaginable.

Jason laughs his head off. “Oh no, bad bad choice.” he tells Leo. Then his eyes light up with realization and he laughs all over again. “Is that what the books were for?”

“What happened to sworn to secrecy?” Leo asks, his face feeling hot. 

“Hey, it’s fine.” Jason says, setting a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I’m a lot more trustworthy than Hazel when it comes to keeping secrets. Steel trap.”

That doesn’t make Leo feel any better, but he acts like it does. 

“Okay. Cool.” he offers. “So uh, how do you two know each other?”

“We went to high school together.” Hazel says with a smile. “Jason’s a year older than me but we were friends because we were like the only two people in school who gave a shit about what was going on in the city. So, when I came to Caltech I found him right away and we both got very hyped to take direct action against the mayor.”

“If we could effectively impeach on a local level, I would.”

“Okay so enlighten me.” Leo says. “What’s the deal with the mayor? I read a little bit about her, but..” he trails off. She seems like pretty much any other conservative person in office so Leo wants to know the real dirt on her. 

“Basically she’s from the suburbs and moved her about fifteen years ago in hopes of pushing a more personally biased and religious driven agenda on our very liberal city. Ever since she became mayor about three years ago, it’s been working.” Jason explains. “She’s anti-homeless, anti poor people, anti poc, and basically pro everything that makes this country suck, and it’s having a direct affect on our police brutality and incarceration rates.”

Hazel nods in agreement. “And now she’s up for re-election, and this is our chance to protest to keep that from happening. 

Jason leans over to his left and pulls a sign out from the pile and hands it to Leo. Leo flips it over and reads:  **GET HER(A) THE HELL OUT**

“Clever.” Leo says with a chuckle. He hoists the sign up, and after hearing what Jason said, he understands why they want her out. Leo though, still can’t shake the feeling there’s something about Mayor Hera they aren’t saying. Something that could connect her to Leo’s full fledged memory, instead of leaving him with this whisper of knowing something about her he can’t reach. 

“Weird question.” Leo says. “But do either of you have a picture of her?”

Hazel nods, and pulls out her phone, before tapping onto her photos app. Once she finds the photo, she turns it toward Leo, and once he sees it- everything clicks. 

He has a full blown Jimmy Neutron-esque brain blast. 

Memories flood back into his mind of a city planner coming to his mom’s garage many times throughout his childhood with court order after court order, trying to shut them down. 

“Fuck. That. Lady.” Leo says, grip tightening on his sign. 

“Do you know her?”

“She’s from  _ my  _ town.” he tells them. “She spent basically my whole childhood getting local businesses shut down and gentrifying the neighborhood to her liking. She would always come to my mom’s place and try and get her to move, saying stuff like our garage didn't fit where ‘where the neighborhood was going.’”

Hazel gives him a look of sympathy, but she can tell as much as any person that Leo never wants pity for the circumstances in which he grew up. So her face quickly reforms into one of determined excitement. 

“Well then. Get up here by me, and let’s shut her down.”

*  
At around six, they start chanting. Leo reads off his paper at first, but they’re short and pretty easy to pick up so he retains them quickly. It feels good, Leo thinks, to do something he cares about with other people. Passion projects are typically a solo expedition in Leo world, so this offers him a new kind of fulfillment. One he thinks he could get pretty used to. Hazel had told him earlier that Mayor Hera should be out of the city council meeting by 6:4 5 or 7, so chant hard and steadfast right through that time. It’s easy, and repetitive, and Leo like that he has the ability to turn his brain off for a little while; which typically only happens when he’s building something. When people start to come out of the hall though, that’s a different story. For some reason, the second the tall guy with the scar on his face heads out of the building, these sirens start to go off in Leo’s head. Like WEE WOO WEE WOO You should not be here.

He doesn’t know what the deal is, but it unsettles him. It sends a chill down his spine in a way he hasn’t experienced before. 

“She’s coming out.” Hazel says, turning to face the crowd behind her. “Louder! Chant louder!”   
Leo and the others follow her orders, eyes trained on the line of people leaving the building. Currently, there are three people outside, Scar face, a guy with sunglasses, and a younger woman long black hair. Then suddenly, there she is. Cameras flash in her presence, Leo hadn’t even realized reporters were waiting for her, until she was out. Mayor Hera offers a wave, and beside him, Leo can hear Hazel’s chanting getting more forceful. She looks similar to how he remembers her. Older woman, mid 50’s, with dark brown hair she keeps in a tight bun. AS she approaches Leo takes note of the age lines around her mouth and under her eyes that give her a haggard appearance which makes Leo laugh a bit to himself. Serves her right. She deserves to look like an old witch. As she gets closer, Leo continues to feel the negative energy surrounding her, almost making him wince at the feeling. Hazel warned him that she typically ignores protesters, but for some reason, maybe an unseen magnetic force, she makes it to the bottom of the stairs and deliberately heads right to where Leo, Hazel, and Jason are standing. 

“Nice evening, isn’t it?” the mayor asks with a painfully pleasant smile. “Now what are a couple of spry young college students like you three doing out her on a Saturday night?”

“Exercising our constitutional right to protest unjust governmental figures.”

Mayor Hera gives a humorless laugh, her lips falling into a tight line. 

“I agree that is your right.” she says, staring Hazel directly in the eye. “But I’m afraid you are on private property.”

“No we’re not.” Jason argues. “A government building can’t be privately owned.”

“But the land it’s on can.” Mayor Hera says with a poisonous smile. “And this square has been in the family of one of our councilors for generations. At this meeting we agreed to draw up the document reclaiming this land and private property, making it illegal to hold protests on.”

“But that’s bullshit!”

Hera’s head whips directly toward Leo, who hadn’t even really intended to say something, but it just came out. She holds his gaze out of anger at first, but as they stare at each other, realization seems to cross over her face. Leo feels for a second, that she recognizes him. That she sees the eight year old who used to lurk around his mom’s legs whenever she would come over. If she does recognize him though, she doesn’t say it. 

“It’s completely within the council’s jurisdiction, and is a necessary step to take to make the city the best it can be. If that includes preventing” she pauses, and clears her throat, “ _ undesirables _ from staking spots on this property, than I’m glad to have done it.”

The way she says the word undesirables makes Leo’s blood boil. He’s had enough passive interactions with older people to know what the word means and Leo’s so angry he’s afraid he’s going to human torch and melt his own skin off. 

Approximately two things kept Leo from setting his hand on fire and sucker punching the mayor in the face. The first was that Hazel reached over and grabbed his hand, pulling it into her own. He is frozen for about ten seconds before he realizes she also grabbed Jason’s hand, and that is was a safety tactic rather than an affectionate gesture. Still, it was enough to distract him while number two hit. And it hit hard. Just as they and the mayor had come to a head in their argument, a substance like pepper spray seems to come from all angles, spraying the crowd and the mayor’s side. No one knows where it came from, but both sides immediately go on the offense, believing the other side sent it. Leo loses his grip on Hazel’s hand as chaos breaks out in the group.

Fear strikes in Leo’s chest, so he dips his head into his arm to avoid the sprays, and he runs out of the crowd. He doesn’t stop running until he’s around the corner of the nearest building. Leo looks back and his eyes widen at the scene in front of him. He sees Hazel in a blur, hand over her eyes, pushing people to run as she stands at the forefront of the chaos. Police seem to arrive from all angles with riot gear in the form of shields and batons, and oh no no no. Leo sees guns. He doesn’t even hesitate in running back. He has no plan, his plan is to get the cops out of here so that innocent people don’t get hurt more than they already have been. Mayor Hera has already disappeared in a car with her cronies, and Leo running on stupid reckless adrenaline and a heart too big for his own good, he behind the line of cops He drops his sign and with one quick look around for any spectators in the immediate surroundings before lighting his hand on fire and pressing it onto the sign. The sign blazes up, and Leo extinguishes his hand before kicking it at the cops feet. 

“Fire!” Leo yells, yelling his head off to be heard over the chaos. “FIRE!”

The cops look beneath them, and quickly disperse away from the site, their attention momentarily removed from the group. By now, most of the crowd has gone, but Leo sees a couple of people huddled toward the front, covering their eyes, so Leo runs to them, desperately gripping their clothes trying to help them up. For some reason though, they won’t budge. They look younger, so it’s probably a mix of fear, and whatever that pepper spray stuff was, but Leo can’t get them to move and it’s scaring him. He becomes more fervent with his urging , but it does not good. 

Then suddenly, a person drops down right in front of him, and all the air gets pushed out of Leo’s lungs. Because standing right in front of him, in the flesh, is Metal Man. 

“Holy shit.” Leo breathes. 

“Can you help them get to safety?” Metal Man asks, in the most calm voice on earth.

Leo wishes he could reclaim his brain cells in the presence of a superhero, but all he manages is “Uh, what?”   
“Can I trust you to get these people to safety?” Metal Man looks into Leo’s eyes, no, his  _ soul _ when he asks, so Leo nods quickly, even though he feels like he’s about to shit his pants. 

“They’re scared though.” Leo manages. 

“Don’t worry about that.” Metal Man tells him. “We’ve got that covered.”

On cue, Opia drops down beside him in all her glory, and Leo is ready to die on the spot. 

She leans down next to the two people Leo is trying to help up. 

“It’s okay.” she says, gently, her voice rolling over him like a warm hug. She tilts up the chin of the younger girl and looks her right in the eyes. The gem in her forehead seems to glow, and like magic, the women are standing up and grabbing onto Leo’s arms. 

“Thank you.” Leo breathes out, awestruck at the most beautiful person he’s ever seen in his life standing next to him and Metal Man. 

She smiles. “No problem.”

And without another word, the two super people rush off to go help the others. As soon as Opia leaves, Leo can feel the fear return to the two women beside him, but he’s determined to get them out of here safely. 

“Don’t worry.” Leo says, squeezing their hands as they start to run. “I know it’s scary, but I’ll- I’ll protect you.”

Before rounding the corner, Leo takes one last look at the two super people working in one final push to ensure the safety of the citizens. 

*

Leo spends the next twenty minutes frantically running around the nearest blocks trying to comprehend what just happened, but more than that, looking for Hazel. He knows that she has way more experience than him with this kind of thing, and maybe this is normal, but he’s not used to it and he’s worried sick over her. It’s only then that he remembers her number was on the protest poster she gave him earlier in the week. He concentrates hard, imagining the page, and is able to recall her number. With shaky hands, he punches her number into his phone and calls. She answers on the first ring. 

“Hazel?”

“Leo!” she says, brightly. “Oh we were so worried about you.”

‘Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Fine. A fair bit of spray to the eyes but nothing some milk can’t fix.We’re down at the 24 hour diner a couple blocks from city hall. Come join, I want to make sure you’re okay.”

And he does. He debates taking a bus, but he chooses to walk as that gives him time to collect his thoughts and deal with the fact he went bonkers and USED HIS POWERS in public, He used them in public, but he also, more importantly, used them for good. Like it was amateur sure, but that felt like superhero behavior to him. And he doesn’t know if that scares him or excites him. 

Once at the diner, he finds Hazel with four others from the protest in a booth in the back. Hazel ushers him in and does introductions with everyone at the table. Leo even recognizes a couple from school. Despite having about $100 to his name, Leo orders a full meal, and settles in to talk about the protest with the others. Hazel says tonight was out of the ordinary. She thinks it was probably some freak accident, where neither side was to blame, but Leo isn’t so sure. Despite no obvious antagonist, as both sides got hit, Leo has a sick feeling that this was deliberate; a trap set for anyone courageous or stupid enough, depending on how you look at it, to stand up for what they believe in. They pull up the news on one of the other guy’s phones and crowd around to watch news coverage on what happened tonight. Including a very prominently featured clip of Leo telling the mayor that privatizing the street was bullshit. 

“That’s my boy!” Hazel laughs, reaching over and squeezing Leo’s arm. He gives a bashful smile. 

“Hey, where’s Jason?” Leo asks, only realizing he wasn’t present when he sees him appear on the screen. 

“He’s our recorder, and the nicest fucking guy on planet earth so he likes to stay until the end of every protest.” Hazel explains. “That way he can get a full description of what went down and, in the event of something bad happening like tonight, he can help as many people as he can. He really likes to make sure people are okay.”

Leo can appreciate that. He thinks he saw Jason helping people like he was in a blur of said chaos.    
“He texted me like ten minutes ago, so he should be here soon.” Hazel informs. 

As promised, Jason arrives quickly, sporting a black eye. Before they can question, Jason pulls up a chair and quickly tells them “It was an accident.”

“I was trying to help a guy up then he got a little jumpy, thinking I was a cop, and well- you can probably gather the rest.”

The group laughs. Leo laughs along, but also studies Jason. If he was there even longer than Leo, he must’ve seen the super people. Leo debates asking him about it, but he decides against it. Jason doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to be into the nerdy super stuff Leo is in, so he keeps questions to himself. 

“Laugh it up.” Jason says, waving them away. “I’d take this black eye any day over other people getting hurt.”

They eat and talk, and before Leo knows it he’s saying bye to Hazel and Jason, and the rest of the people he can possibly consider his new friends. When he gets home, Frank is there, sitting at his desk, studying. 

“I saw you on the news.” he says as Leo climbs up into his bunk. “I liked the part where you yelled bullshit at the mayor.”

Leo snorts. “Thanks. Why were you watching the news?”

“I had some friends at the protest and I wanted to make sure they were okay.”

“Didn’t you worry about me?”

“I didn’t know you were going to be there!”

Leo rolls his eyes. “Well I’m fine, thanks for asking.” 

Leo contemplates bringing up Hazel again, the fact she invited him, held his hand, etc., because Leo thinks that a girl maybe liking him could make Frank feel jealous of him, but something catches his eyes. 

“Frank why are you wearing a turtleneck?” Leo asks incredulously. “It’s August! In California!”

“Oh shut up, it’s cold in the dorm!” Frank shoots back. And maybe it is. But Leo would never know. Ever since he got fire powers, he hasn’t felt anything colder than pleasantly toasty. 

“Is it the dorm temperature or does it have to do with the fact that you have the personality of a frigid 19th century woman and you want the wardrobe to match?”

“Must be it.”

As Leo lays back in his bed, he thinks about what happened tonight. He  _ really _ thinks about the fact he used powers and it did good for a whole lot of people. Leo had already decided that him getting powers didn’t automatically equate to him being a hero who goes around saving people, but now.. Now he thinks he might want to do something with this. Is that crazy? Maybe. But the best of Leo’s ideas usually start out with some crazy. Oh well, Leo is getting ahead of himself. Right now, he should probably thinking about homework and Hazel and other normal college boy things before he starts thinking about becoming a real life superhero. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three! Heck yeah!  
> ugh ya'll I'm so excited. I feel like I'm finally getting into the main plot I've been so excited for rather than just doing background info stuff so this is so fun for me!!  
> The next couple chapters are gonna get more super more emo and really bring Leo into this new world he's been thrown into so I hope you're excited for that.   
> Has anyone figured out who any of our super protectors are ?? Let me know.   
> Thank you for all your sweet comments and for continuing to read! Ya'll rock.   
> New update will hopefully be within a week :)


	4. Bet you didn’t see that one coming

Leo flips his phone over the next morning and bolt upright at the new notification gracing his screen. 

**New episode of SoCal Supernatural available**

He feels around for his headphones and quickly presses onto the episode, realizing that as a result of the unusual posting time, and the events of the night before, that his favorite podcast is going to be talking about something he experienced in the flesh. 

“Welcome back super lovers -- we are straying from our typical upload schedule to give you an eyewitness account of what happened last night at City Hall.”

Leo listens intently as the host, who was apparently there with his full time reporter job, recaps the night. Leo doesn’t really need to listen too intently to the background stuff about the protest because well, he was freaking there, but he does take note of his description of the beginnings of the confrontation, starting with an argument between the mayor and “three relentlessly passionate college kids.”

It’s safe to assume those three kids are him, Hazel, and Jason. The podcast continues and finally the host dives into the arrival of the super people, which makes Leo recount his own experiences of the night along with him. 

“Metal Man was first on the scene as usual. He seemed to have just dropped from the sky, wasting no time before springing into action. Of course, his first instinct was to help those affected by noxious emissions in the air. Although citizens were his first priority, other reports, as well as what I could see through the gas was that Metal Man picked up a car to use as a shield against law enforcement officials. Once again proving this group of super people does not align to governmental rules, vigilantes at their finest. Opia and Reaper also made appearances, acting as damage control. Opia used her emotional manipulation as calming for the crowd of frightened protesters, while Reaper took this night as a rare opportunity to stand back from the fight. Reaper was only seen in passing, helping to rid the air of our unidentified gas before taking off after one of the mayor’s cars that had left the scene.”

Whoa. Leo hadn’t even seen that Reaper was there. Which was probably good because he might’ve been seriously starstruck.

“This past night was a little disappointing because not only did we only get ¾ of our heroes, but, said heroes were completely shown up by something HUGE.”

Wait what? Leo was there too last night, what else could he have missed? What was bigger than talking to Metal Man and being like two people away from Opia, the hottest superhero Leo has ever seen?

“This person was only spotted by few, and under the cover of darkness, but we have strong reason to believe there is a fifth super person walking among us.”

Leo’s eyes widen. 

“From where I was standing, I could see  _ everything.  _ Almost directly after the gas was spread into the air, 2 officers raised their guns to fire on the unsuspecting, and arguable innocent, crowd. In response, an unidentified crowd member snuck up behind them to cause a distraction, in hopes of sparing the innocent protesters, in a truly heroic display. Instead of talking, or shivving the pigs the old fashioned way, the super person lifted up a picket sign and, I kid you not super freaks, lit his hand on fire, full flame, and set the picket sign on fire. He effectively caused a diversion for the people and allowed them to run to safety. Fucking sick, right?”   
Leo’s mind is reeling. 

“As attached as I've grown to our current super protectors, this unidentified social justice warrior college kid with fire hands has definitely caught my attention. As always, if you have any information, specifically on our newest super mystery man, contact us at  [ SoCalSupernatural@gmail.com ](mailto:SoCalSuper@gmail.com) . We’ll be back Wednesday with our newest episode. Signing off.”

The podcast ends, and a million thoughts run through Leo’s head. 

_ I should have been more careful _

_ Why didn’t I check to make sure no one was watching me? _

_ How could I be so stupid? _

_ Does this make me an honorary member of the super squad? _

_ Do I have a hero's duty to the city now? _

_ Is this a good thing or a bad thing? _

But louder than anything else was the thought:

“Fuck. I need to call my mom.”

And he does. Leo knows it’s probably superhero rule number one to not tell anyone you have powers and reveal your secret identity or whatever, but it’s his mom. He’s gotta tell her. Plus, Leo does also need some money, so that’s another reason to call. So, Leo uses his flames to casually heat up one of Frank’s toaster strudels for breakfast, and then gets to work. He multitasks by calling his mom as well as doing calculus homework that doesn’t really require his attention. 

“What’s wrong?” she says, immediately after she answers. “Why’re you calling me?”

“Jeez mama, does something have to be wrong for me to call you?”

“Of course not mijo, but something usually is.” she says, matter of factly. “So what did you do? Blow up the chemistry lab? Make a robot to hack the system and change all the grades? Graduate early for being too smart?”

Leo laughs. No one can gas him up quite like his mom. 

“None of the above, actually. I just wanted to ask when I can come and visit?”

He feels like he can’t say the powers stuff over the phone. It has to be in person or she won’t believe him.

His mom pauses. “You don’t like it.” she says, sadly. 

Leo is quick to rebuff her. “No no, I love it, honest, I just miss you…” he tells her. “And want an extra shift at the garage.”

“Oh so this is about money.” his mom replies. “Not me. Why don’t you just get a job in the city?”

“Because you told me not to!”

“When?”

“Somewhere in the middle of the ‘capitalism exploits the children of immigrants’ speech.”

“Oh. Right.” she laughs. “Of course you can come home to visit. I have a big Saturday week after next I think. How does that sound?”

Leo grins. “Sounds perfect, mama.”

“I love you.” she tells him. “You know we think about you everyday. I can’t get enough of telling my customers my son goes to Caltech in the big city.”

“Ma, you’re the sole reason I have a huge ego.”

She laughs again, and wow is it good to hear her laugh. Leo hadn’t realized just how much he missed her. 

“You deserve it all.”

“It’s good to hear your voice.” he tells her, leaning a little more into the phone as if that would bring them closer. 

“Yours too, baby. Call me again soon, okay?”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye.”   
*

Directly after his phone call with his mom, Leo’s brain splits into two territories. One portion of his brain is focused on his homework for his Monday classes. The other is completely one track mind on his newfound role as a local superhero. 

The truth is, as much as it scares him, Leo sort of wants to be.. A hero. He has been given powers, and he wants to use them for good. While Leo was growing up, he heard stories about super people; fictitious and those living an hour away in the city, and he and every other kid in the world put them on a pedestal in his mind. They were the greatest! Heroes, whose desire it was to protect and defend the people to keep them safe, yet time and time again his mother reminded him that people like them ‘didn’t get saved by superheroes;’ that there would never be a crime fighting dude or chick in a cape landing on their doorstep and solving all their problems. 

Leo has known for a long time that he and his mom drew the short stick in life, and while he had sort of expected to have to balls to the walls it to survive, he had always hoped that there was someone out there who could help. 

And now, for some reason he can’t understand, other than his own stupidity, Leo appears to be given a chance to  be that hero. To be the one who looks out for the poor kids of color who like science, just like him when he was younger. The hero who isn’t a hero because he had a shitton of money, or even because the city as a whole desperately needed him. He’s like a shittier spider man, but with the same amount of heart put into what he does. 

While daydreaming about his own heroism, Leo glances down at the work in front of him, almost forgetting that he’s supposed to be devoting half a brain to his homework. Looking at it, he thinks he’ll have to settle for part time hero, because there’s no way he can manage classwork and figure out how to use his fire powers to help people unless-

Oh wait. Oh yes. Oh FUCK yes .

Leo brain blasts. His dynamic systems homework today is to sketch out the design for a help people. That’s the model of the class, thinking , designing, building different machines for different purposes. And Leo can’t help but think this is the perfect opportunity to Tony Stark all his scrap metal and make a superhero gadget under the guise of being an engineering assignment. God sometimes, Leo is so good, he impresses himself. 

“In the most ambitious crossover event in history,” Leo bellows, “I will have my hands AND brain focused on the same project for an elongated period of time!”

Leo’s excitement is quickly dashed when Frank beans him with a pillow and tells him to shut up. So, Leo keeps it quiet, and sets to work. He knows automatically he can’t do a weapon, because that would raise an incredible amount of suspicion. And obviously guns don’t help people, so he goes with option 2. It’s simple. A brace-like machine that wraps around your wrist and hands and extends to reach things high up or far away. Maybe even be able to grip? To Leo, that seems ordinary enough to help everyday people, but also something that could be mad useful in a super situation. So he starts to sketch, a very Spidey circa 2001 meets crane machine type of creation. 

He realizes quickly that for this machine to work, he’ll either need a fireproof metal or, a different method of lighting up, besides full hand flames. Leo knows he’s already doing more than assigned, but he needs accurate dimensions, and he wants to build the thing so he can start using it. Then he kills two birds with one stone! Knocks out the first month of homework, and gets to use his machine right away. The way he’s designed it means he already has the majority of the parts in his possession, sans the spray paint to make it look dope, and the actual equipment to build it, which he thinks is pretty damn good. Everything is clicking together as he works, and Leo feels on fire. 

Well, not literally. That is, until little flames start to singe off his arms the faster he works. He slaps them away quickly and glances back at Frank, who thankfully has his head under his blanket. Leo leaves Frank a note, and in pursuit of spray paint, Leo heads out of the room, with a number ready to text. 

*

Leo really thought he had more balls than this, but talking to girls freaks him out so much, even when he thinks they might like him. He stares at the next text he’s created with Hazel, but without the adrenaline of super fighting, he can’t bring himself to text her. It literally takes changing her name in his phone to Frank, before he can send it. 

**Leo**

_ How do you feel about helping a guy find some spray paint? _

Frank replies quickly. Well, er, Hazel does. 

**Frank**

_ For what? If it’s for graffiti, then yes.  _

**Frank**

_ If it’s for anything else… also yes _

**Frank**

_ I can hook you up _

**Leo**

_ Free rn? _

**Frank**

_ Hell yeah. Meet me outside the performing arts building _

_ * _

“Hey!” Hazel says, as she pulls Leo in for a hug. And at some point Leo will be able to hug her without getting that stupid blush all over his face, but that day is not today. “So are you going to tell me what the spray paint is for?”

Leo shrugs. “Ames’ project.”   
Hazel makes a face. “We’re not building until like a month from now? We’re literally supposed to just draw our thing on a piece of paper.”

“I know.”

“I didn’t take you for someone who finishes assignments early.” Hazel comments, giving Leo a nudge with her shoulder. “You have big last minute, frantic, procrastinator energy.”

Leo laughs. “Sounds about right. That’s usually true, but I love building. Can’t stop myself once I get started.” he says. “Like social justice stuff for you is building and fixing for me.”

“Well then we better get you that spray paint, stat.”

Hazel brings him away from the building to a small shed near the side of the building. She pulls off her necklace to reveal a key dangling on one end. 

“We just got here like a week ago!” Leo exclaims, as Hazel leans down to unlock the shed. “How are you already in charge of stuff like a key?”

She shrugs as the lock clicks open. She gives Leo a coy smile. “I have a habit of working my way into positions where I feel I can do good.”

Her words bring a warmth to his chest. Not necessarily fire, but pretty close. Hazel inspires him. She’s so take no prisoners, do whatever you want if you think it’ll make the world a better place. Leo thinks Hazel probably should’ve been the one to get super powers, because she would be a kickass hero, but hey, she’s doing pretty good on her own. 

She pulls open the door, and holds a long angelic note to reveal about 20 cans of spray paint and a ton of other art supplies. 

“You’re a fucking angel.” he lets slip out, as he steps into the shed. He emerges soon after with three cans of paint. 

“Thanks Hazel.”

“No problem.” she says, with a bright smile. “If you’re done by tonight, you can bring them back to my dorm.”

Leo bites down on his lip. “I don’t know where your dorm is.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Did I seriously not tell you yet?” she asks. “That’s stupid of me.”

And with no hesitation, the girl Leo is crushing on whips out her phone and texts him her address. Leo thinks he’s definitely going to finish by tonight because any excuse to go to Hazel’s is one he is going to take. 

His phone vibrates, and even though he knows the notification is from her, he pulls it out and looks at the address with a smile. It’s almost too good to be true, until Hazel cranes her neck and looks over onto his phone screen. 

“Why is my name Frank in your phone?”

Uh. How do you explain that to a girl?

“Oh sorry.” Leo says quickly, forcing a laugh. “My phone got all messed up and switched my contact names. I don’t know what happened.”

Sheesh. For being as smart as he is, Leo came up with a pretty dumb ass lie.

“Weird.” Hazel comments. “That’s especially weird because I know a Frank-”

Leo didn’t want to cut Hazel off, but this conversation was taking him further away from the fact she gave him her address.

“It’s a pretty common name.” is what he says, before thrusting his phone at her. “Here! Why don’t you change your contact?”

She smiles. “Okay I will.”

She types away before taking a picture of herself, and handing it back to Leo. 

They say their goodbyes, and Leo rushes off. He reaches the workshop and goes sicko mode working on his machine, driven mostly by the desire to see Hazel again, but even he isn’t that crazy fast. He finishes around 11pm, and is incredibly proud of his machine, and very freaking tired. As the spray paint dries, he doesn’t have the chance to test it that night, but Leo has already decided that the best place to test it, will be the place he’ll actually use it: Out defending the city. 

*

Tuesday night, the night Leo decides to test out his super contraption, begins with Leo sneaking out of his dorm in a big ass coat, hat, and sunglasses. Thankfully, Frank has become accustomed to Leo’s shenanigans, and says nothing as he heads out. Leo knows he looks stupid, but hey, it’s not like he has any other choice. From now on, he’s pretty sure he has to conceal his identity or someone will kidnap him and lock him in area 51. About five minutes into strolling around downtown, Leo realizes he does in fact look like a massive creeper, but oh well. It’s too late to change now. 

After about twenty minutes of absolutely nothing, Leo’s attention cannot be held any longer. His mission dissolves into complete and utter dicking around. Hero kickflips in an alley, practicing a super monologue, and testing his grabber machine by going for pigeons on the street. 

“Uh oh!” Leo yells out to the empty streets. “I hope no  _ criminals _ come out and let me fight them!”

No response. 

“Seriously? For the city with the highest crime rate in the state, the streets are as barren as my love life!” He laughs to himself for a second, but with nothing but the echo of his own words around him, he realizes how depressing this really is. 

It’s only when Leo rounds the next corner that he sees the first people he’s seen in blocks, and although he’s far back, they look to be exactly what he’s looking for. Outside the convenience store, Leo sees two people, probably men based on height and stature, with masks over their faces. He also zeroes in on the fact that both have guns in their hands. Excitement bubbles up inside him, a feeling he never thought he would get when seeing armed robbers. His heart beats against his chest, as the adrenaline rises. He has no fear whatsoever. It doesn't at all cross his mind that he’s not bulletproof and has never fought anyone. All that he’s got is excess adrenaline, a virtually untested gadget, fire hands, and the same tug in his chest he felt when Metal Man asked him to protect those people at the protest. 

Leo adjusts his beanie and sunglasses, before heading towards the store. He pauses outside the building, resting his back against the wall to listen. 

“We’re not going to shoot you. Just give us the money, okay?”

Leo can hear the girl at the register respond, but her voice is shaky. 

“Hurry up.” Another voice growls. 

He can hear one of them turn off the safety on the gun and that’s when Leo can’t take it anymore. With a huge amount of unearned confidence, he pushes open the door. Guns immediately point in his direction and WOW. Leo really didn’t think this through. 

“Get out of here.” The man closest to him shouts. 

“Or what?” Leo asks with a laugh. “You’re gonna shoot me?”

Famous last words. 

Everything seems to move in slow motion for Leo. He sees the gunman narrow his eyes, his finger pulling the trigger, the cashier covering her face in her hands, and then himself, lighting up his hand and putting it in front of his face. Everything is back at normal speed as the bullet hits Leo’s hand and melts on impact, dripping lead on the ground. 

Leo can’t help but grin at the shock on the guys’ faces. 

“Bet you didn’t see that one coming.”

The men go to fire again, but Leo is faster. He throws a sloppy ball of fire outward, that stops the bullets before they can reach him. Both are distracted as they brush fire off their arms, so Leo takes the opportunity to hit the button on the center of his contraption and aim his extender arms toward their guns. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go as well as Leo would’ve hoped. The arms hook into the pants of one guy, and the gun holster of the other. 

“Well.” Leo says, thinking aloud. “I guess this works too.”

Despite his lack of super strength, Leo tugs with all his might and pulls both of the gunmen forward, to face plant into the hard linoleum tile. Guns slip out of their hands and slides across the floor.

“That worked.” he says, excitedly, turning to the cashier. “I really didn’t expect that to work!”

She points to the floor nervously, and Leo follows her gesture.    
Oh right! Guns.” Leo grabs them off the ground and looks at them. “What do I do with the guns?”

The cashier shrugs. 

“Sorry.” Leo says. “I shouldn’t be asking you. I’m supposed to be doing the saving.” he says. “You know, this is actually my first time saving anyone for real, so this is actually a pretty monumental-”

Leo is cut off by a swift punch to the gut, sending him across the room. He sits up, thankfully with the guns still in his hands, at the man. The man whose mask has slipped just for a second, and Leo could’ve sworn he saw a familiar scar etching the side of his face. Leo doesn’t have time to dwell though, as the man is coming over to him.    
“Shit really, dude?” Leo grumbles, standing up despite the throbbing pain in his stomach. “I mean, I’ve got the guns, I’ve got the fire hands, and I’m pretty positive the nice lady behind the cash register is rooting for me, so if I were you..” he pauses to lift his free hand and lights it on fire. “I would just get lost.”

The man looks like he’s contemplating hitting Leo again, but his partner sets a hand on his shoulder and whispers something to him. 

“Next time we see you.” the guy says. “You’re dead.”

Leo thrusts his fire hand closer to the guys, who just sneer and shoulder through the door before disappearing into the night. Leo extinguishes his hand and lets out his breath, he hadn’t realized he was holding. 

“Thank you.” the cashier breathes. “Seriously. Thank you.”

Leo’s heart softens. “No problem, sunshine.” he says, feeling much more confident behind a disguise. “Sorry about your floor. Fire melts things, and all that metal is hardened up by now.”

“It’s okay.” she laughs, wiping at her eyes. “If I tell my boss a superhero saved my life and all our money, I think I’ll be off the hook.”

Leo has her assure him she’s okay, and then he exits the building feeling on top of the world… for about two seconds. Because he takes about three steps outside before he’s pushed up against the wall, a knife at his throat. 

“Who the hell do you think you are?” the person asks. It takes a second for him to see, but then despite the mask, the long blonde hair, and the higher voice, makes Leo realized he’s getting accosted by a girl. “Those were  _ my  _ guys. Where are they?”

Out of fear, Leo lifts his hand up and lights her knife on fire, making her jump back in alarm. She’s bewildered for a second, but then it appears he only made her angrier. She moves back in and grabs Leo’s hands, shoving them over his head with one hand, and setting the knife at his throat once again. 

“Hey lady!” he says, quickly. “I’m a good guy!”

“Yeah.” she growls. “So am I.”

Oh shit. How did he not realize. 

“You’re Reaper.” 

“Yeah.” she says, grabbing his collar and throwing him to the ground. “And you’re a pain in my ass. Now who are you and where are my guys?”

She sets her combat boot on his chest. “I’m nobody” he breathes, even though it’s hard with slowly crushing his windpipe. “And… I let them go?”

She yells in frustration and takes her boot off his chest. “Which way?”

Leo hastily points to the left, and Reaper takes off into the night. Jeez. The hero podcast was not lying when they said Reaper wasn’t really the typical hero. She’s not nice like Metal Man and Opia, and why does she care so much about two random robbers? And where are the other heroes? Leo has no idea. All he knows for sure is that Reaper is much hotter than he thought she was gonna be. 

He stands up and brushes himself off, knowing there are going to be more than a few bruises on him after the events of tonight. His body aches, and his whole body feels a little too overheated, but his heart feels full. For the first time, Leo feels like this whole superhero thing could be real. He can  _ do _ this. And that’s a really good feeling. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter a day early! Incredible.  
> I hope you enjoy! The next chapters are going to get more super, more dramatic, and more exciting so I hope you all continue to read and enjoy!  
> As always, thank you for all the comments and kudos- they mean the world!  
> Also if you ever want to message me to talk about pjo/hoo my fics then don't hesitate to hit up my tumblr at gracesjasons,   
> New chapter will hopefully be up soon. I'm going on vacation so there might be a bit of a break.  
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Let. Her. Go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: Character death towards the end of the chapter.

From that night on, Leo’s week just gets better and better. Starting with a visit to Hazel’s dorm which turned into a full on hangout, just the two of them. That in it of itself is a huge deal to Leo. He’s never felt this close to a girl. If only he could buck up the courage to ask her out or something, then his life would get even better. But for now, this is the best Leo can ask for. On top of that, his professor loved his sketch for his machine, and Leo has spent every night out doing super stuff. It hasn’t been as intense as that first night, but Leo has been helping people cross the street, chasing down the odd petty thief, and picking up litter. It’s not much but it really makes him feel like he’s doing something. Not all superheroes can start out saving the world right off the bat, right? He’s starting small. He’s also had to start doing most of his homework in class to make the time for his new hobby, but that’s a small price to pay for hearing his excursions continue to pop up on his favorite podcast. 

“Are you going home this weekend?” Leo asks Frank, at a rare moment they’re in their dorm at the same time. He hadn’t realized how much he and Frank had been on different wavelengths until right now when he watches the big guy packing up a bag. 

“Uh yeah.” Frank says, sounding hesitant to tell Leo. “Did you want a ride or something?”   
“Nah, I’m going home next week.” he tells him. “Any reason you’re going home?”

Frank shakes his head quickly. “Nope, just got some stuff to catch up on.”

“You’re acting weird.” Leo comments, now completely focused on his roommate. 

“You’re acting weird.” Frank shoots back. “You’re the one that stays out all night.”   
“Sorry I have a life.” Leo lets roll off his tongue. He didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh, but it’s natural with Frank. And he really doesn’t want Frank to be getting suspicious about his nighttime activities being anything other than hangouts. 

Frank rolls his eyes and heads to his closet, pulling out a hanger with a long garment bag attached. 

“Ball gown?” Leo teases. 

“Church clothes.” he says quickly, shoving it into his bag. “Grandmother likes me to look nice.”

Leo reaches down over his bunk and grabs at Frank’s turtleneck. 

“You’re telling me that the turtleneck isn’t good enough for a church?” he asks. Frank swats Leo’s hand away. “Seriously dude, what’s up with you and these lately?”

“Can you just drop it?”

Leo puts his hands up. “Fine. Whatever. Have a nice visit home, okay?”

Frank’s face softens. “I will. Have a nice weekend, dude.”

As soon as Frank is up and out, Leo feels ecstatic at the thought of being alone in his dorm for the weekend. That means no hiding his shit from Frank the second he comes in, and staying out as late as he wants without having to worry about Frank getting suspicious. Frank’s out more than Leo honestly, so he’s got a warped view on how much Leo is actually out. Leo begins hsi Friday by pulling out all his scrap metal, and the various contraptions he’s pulled together over the past week in attempts to make super stuff. It Ironman was really poor, his stuff would look like Leo’s. In addition to his grabber bracelet, Leo’s also made two considerably less high tech machines to help him out. The first one is actually pretty rough. At 4am after a night of no sleep, Leo’s favorite kind of night, he thought that a spinning fire circle would be a really helpful weapon. He had big plans, but at the time, all he had on hand was a box of matches, duct tape, and a frisbee he got from a welcome week event, so you can guess how that one turned out. The second however, has proven hella useful. Leo made an ear piece that he can frequency in on sound waves and pick up on things like radios and walkie talkies and shit. Especially tuning into the police waves, he can figure out what’s going on in the city. 

As far as costume, he’s still pretty much sporting the hat jacket and sunglasses look, but he has upgraded to a red mask he bought at the dollar store near campus, and better running shoes to help him out. It’s a ragtag look at best, but hey, that’s Leo. 

As Leo is suiting up, his phone rings. He contemplates going over and answering, but he’s kind of in the zone. If it’s really important, they’ll call again. He shoves his gadgets onto his arm, in his pocket, and clipped to his ear, and heads out of the dorm. He catches a bus, and only pulls on his mask when he reaches the bustling downtown. It’s busy, much busier than it had been any other night this week. Leo shuffles through the crowds of people, doing his best to blend in as he does so. He pulls out his phone and reads a missed call from Hazel, as well as a voicemail. He pulls his phone up to his ear, already feeling a flush on his cheeks at the thought of her leaving him a voicemail, but that’s quickly dissipated once he hears her voice. 

“Leo, it’s Hazel. Please- please pick up your phone. I’m downtown because I heard about this unfair arrest that was made but I made a mistake coming down here on my own and now no one is answering their cell phone and god- I think I might be in trouble. There’s these guys and just-if you could come get me-”

Leo doesn’t even wait to hear the rest of the message before he’s running down the streets. The residual pain in his side from the guys in the gas station flares up but he ignores it and runs faster. His fingers tap feverishly into his palm and his brain buzzes incessantly. Why would Hazel go out on her own? What for? She has pepper spray and that angry determined demeanor but that’s about as much protection as carrying a hairbrush in this city. Leo knows Hazel doesn’t need protecting, but he feels so much more comfortable knowing she’s with Jason or literally anyone so that she isn’t alone. 

Leo has absolutely no experience in being romantic with a girl or feeling that intense protection over a female significant other, so he can only compare this feeling he has now to the one he feels over his mom. When customers would treat her badly, or she would fight with a boyfriend, or when Hera would show up at their door demanding they shut down their shop, Leo would feel a tug in his gut and step between his mother and whatever bad thing tried to get her. 

And the funny thing is, when he heard Hazel’s frightened voice over the phone, calling him for help, he got the same exact feeling. 

It’s getting dark now, and Leo’s got no idea where he’s going, but he keeps running. He tries calling Hazel again, desperate for a location, but there’s no answer. He also calls Jason and unfairly cusses him out over voicemail for letting Hazel go out on her phone before shoving his phone into his pocket and running. 

Finally, finally, the jail downtown comes into view, and and Leo hears Hazel’s voice. He can’t see her, and he realizes that’s because she’s in the center of a group of men and women, all seemingly angry and closing in on a point that Hazel’s voice is coming out of. His brain goes into overdrive. Why are they crowding around her like an angry mob? What’s happening? He doesn’t know, but he knows Hazel is in trouble. He runs up, and without thinking, grabs the first two he sees and throws them on the ground. He shoots flames at their feet, scattering the rest of them, before diving into the center, scooping Hazel up bridal style, and running in the opposite direction. 

As he very well knows, Leo does not have super strength, so the running and the carrying of the girl is hard, but he doesn’t care. He runs until they’re safe, stopping outside the diner they went to after Leo’s very first protest.    
Hazel takes her time unwinding her arms from Leo’s shoulders, something he hadn’t even realized she had done, and taking a deep breath, as if trying to calm herself down. Leo sets her down gently on the sidewalk, and she clutches her phone to her chest. She looks shell-shocked. 

“Hazel are you okay? What happened?”

She looks up at him, a confused expression adorning her face.    
“How do you know my name?”

Oh shit. Leo’s in disguise. A stupid ass disguise he never thought would work, but a disguise nonetheless. He also just used powers in front of her, so he can’t reveal himself now. Shit. 

“I um..” he says, lowering his voice to try and disguise it. “Your ID is on the back of your phone.”

Hazel flips over her phone to see that to be true, thank god. 

“Oh. I guess it is.” she agrees. “I was a little weirded out at first, that a superhero knew my name. I mean I’ve been on tv and stuff for protests, but I know super people probably don’t have time to watch stuff like that.”

Her voice has a strange edge that Leo can’t quite pin down, but he continues the conversation. 

“Hey, I watch my fair share of tv.” he tells her, still putting on the lowered voice. “I do only work the night shift.”

Hazel laughs, and steps a little closer to him. Leo’s face flushes, thank god for this stupid mask. He clears his throat and tries his best to focus his attention on her. 

“Are you sure you’re alright? Can you tell me what happened back there.”

She nods. “I had heard some guy was getting unfairly arrested by police for working at his newspaper stand with a permit and I thought I could come down here and help, but there were all these people, you saw them, who were very on the side of the police. They were loud, and scary, and I don’t care for them at all.” she explains, running a hand through her hair. “And my friends weren’t answering and the guy I’m kind of seeing didn’t answer, so I’m just really glad you showed up.”

Leo’s eyes almost pop out of his head. Hazel just uttered the words “the guy I’m kind of seeing” in reference to someone she didn’t answer. Leo had sort of an inkling that the hangout between the two of them, and each homework session and class chats after that had been culminating to the two of them becoming an item, but he didn’t know if she felt the same. And this might be actual freaking confirmation. 

“But to answer your question, Yes, I’m alright.” she finishes. “Thanks to you.”

Blush rises again. 

“All in a night’s work.”

And that’s when Hazel reaches out and touches his arm gently and asks: “Do I get to know the name of my savior?”

“Haven’t really thought of a name yet. ”Lie. Such a lie. Leo’s been thinking of names since he found out he had powers, he just hasn’t picked one yet. “I’d say that’s still a secret.”

“Well alright Fire Boy.” she says with a smile. “Keep your secrets.”

For some reason, being behind this mask is making it much easier to talk to girls. He thinks it’s because the inferiority he so often feels in this situation is switched. Leo isn’t the one in the vulnerable position, and he doesn’t have to deal with the fact that people are seeing the real him and may choose not to like it. Behind this mask, he’s a superhero, and people look at him like that. 

“So.” Leo says, setting his hands on his hips. “Can I offer you safe travel home?” 

He can’t stop himself before he continues with: “I don’t feel right leaving a pretty girl on these streets at this time of night.”   
Leo wasn’t sure how that compliment would land with Hazel, but she smiles warmly, and gives her phone a little shake. 

“One of my friends replied, and he’s coming to get me.”

“Is that the boy you’re seeing?” Leo asks before he can help himself. 

Hazel shakes her head. “No. Just a plain old friend.” she says, tilting her head the slightest bit. “With a car, who will unfortunately take me home in a much less heroic manner than I’m sure you would have.”

Okay hold up. Leo has the amount of common sense it takes to see that he and Hazel, when he’s out of costume, have chemistry. They spend a lot of time together, have the same humor, and she likes him for all his quirks, but never in Leo’s life has he experienced Hazel acting the way she is around the super version of him. Like wow. Leo’s been trying to pin down what this edge in Hazel’s voice has been this whole conversation, and then the touching of the arm, the playing with the hair, and the soft snarky voice all fit together, and realizes Hazel is really  _ really  _ flirting with him. He gets mad for a second that Hazel is flirting with superhero him, when she should be turning the flirting on harder with real him, but that’s too meta even for him to think about. With this knowledge that that is how the conversation is unfolding, Leo does the only logical thing: He tries to flirt back. 

“That’s probably true.” he replies. “You can always tell your friend that you found another way home.”

She shakes her head with a laugh. “Wish I could, but he’ll be here in about two minutes.”

“Shame. Well, are you going to be okay on your own?” he asks. “I hate to leave, but I’ve got other parts of the city to keep safe.”

She nods. “I’ll be okay.”

And then, she seems to surprise even herself as she steps up and presses a long kiss to Leo’s cheek. 

“Thanks again for saving me.” she says, just above a whisper. “I hope we meet again.”

Leo is unable to stop the flames licking at his fingertips at her words. 

“I hope so too.”

*

“For real?”

“Yes for real!” Leo insists to his mom the following weekend. “Why are you so surprised?”

His mom laughs, wiping her hands on the dish towel over her shoulder. “I’m not surprised Leo! I’m just intrigued by the fact that you describe the girl you are maybe possibly dating as ‘sexy Rosa Parks’

“I stand by what I said.”

Leo’s been home an entire night and still hasn’t been able to figure out how to break the news to his mom that he has powers. He’s sort of been waiting for it to come up in conversation, but it obviously never does, which makes it weigh down on Leo harder. It’s especially dampening his mood as he’s come to see his powers as a gift, but his mom sees things differently than he does. Super stuff is a touchy subject with them. His mom, known anti superist finding out her only son has powers is not the comic Leo signed up to be a part of! In the Valdez household, this is like class traitor level shit. 

But then again, Leo knows his mom. He knows her better than anyone else in the world, and if his heart is in the right place, his mom has a really difficult time resisting him. That’s why he was able to basically blow up the science lab so many times in high school when he was trying to figure out a chemical fuel that could replace all the fossil usage. He would get in trouble at school, but his mom always let him off the hook because he was doing something he loved, and trying to help other people in the process. And Leo thinks what he’s doing now isn’t much different. 

So, once Leo and his mom are snuggled up on their couch to watch a movie, he thinks that now is the time to tell her. 

“You’re quiet tonight.” His mom comments before he can say anything. She reaches over and pulls him into her side. “Never thought my Leo would be at a loss for words.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Leo says, clearing his throat. “I just have something on my mind.”

His mom’s face darkens. “What is it?” she asks, motherly concern lacing her tone. “Is it the girl?”

“No, no it’s not the girl.”

“Then what is it?” she asks, sincerely. “Baby, you know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I know,” he agrees, but he stays quiet. 

His mom sighs. “You look tired.” she observes, reaching up and cupping his cheek. She scans his face, taking note of the dark circles that have made a home under his eyes. “Have you been getting enough sleep?”

No. 

“Mostly mama.”

She doesn’t buy it, and she shouldn’t. Leo’s been spending every night out in the city, with sleep on the back burner. 

“Well then you’d better get to sleep now.” she tells him. “You’ve got a long shift tomorrow, and I don’t want you sleeping on the job.”

Leo sighs, and concedes to his mother’s wishes, pushing down his super secret in the process. 

*

“Welcome to Esperanza’s how may I help you?”

“E, can you hand me a wrench?”

“Phone’s ringing Nyssa, can you pick it up?”

The familiar sounds, sights, and smells of the garage flood Leo’s senses as he gets back into the groove. Nothing can calm him like the buzz of the workers and mechanic parts of his mom’s garage. Leo’s been in for about two hours now, working on various pieces, but his current challenge is a motorcycle where sticky gears and blown out tires. He slips past his mom, making sure to tap out an “I love you” on her shoulder, before grabbing his tool box and returning to his spot at the motorcycle. It’s simple work, just time consuming, so Leo shoves in his headphones and lets his mind wander as his hands do all the work. And Leo spends the majority of his day in the zone. It’s not until later that evening that he even realizes him and his mom are the only people left in the garage. She’s taking her time, cleaning up, making sure everything is in order for the next day, and as Leo watches her pause at the front desk, he can tell a part of her is surveying all that she has built. 

As someone who came from virtually nothing, his mom always said that she found a way to turn nothing at all into a very special something, and Leo thinks her garage is living proof. It’s where she’s happiest, it supports her passion, and her family, and the community it has created made growing up here one of Leo’s best childhood memories. Leo wipes off his hands and heads over to where his mom is standing, and leans his head onto her shoulder.

“About ready to head home?” Leo asks, softly. 

His mom nods. “Yeah, just have to get my coat and lock up.”

His mom moves away from him and turns around to grab her coat off of the chair. As soon as she lifts it up, the sound of glass shattering on the other side of the building makes Leo’s mom duck under the front desk, pulling Leo down beside her. 

“What’s happeni-”

Leo’s mom claps a hand over his mouth as another window shatters, and footsteps sound through the glass now scattering the floor. 

Leo’s heart rate starts to speed up. 

“They probably looking for money and parts.” Leo’s mom says, quickly and quietly. “It’s happened before. Just stay quiet, and don’t move until we know they’re gone.”   
She looks at him intensely, giving his hand a tight squeeze. “Do you understand?”

Leo nods quickly. For some reason, he feels like he’s 8 years old. His mom says this has happened before, but Leo can’t remember any instance where this happened, let alone where two of her large windows were smashed in. Leo tenses as the footsteps draw nearer. And this might be him projecting, but Leo feels like he can  _ feel  _ what these people are thinking. He feels this negative air that’s inherently bad, and somehow so familiar. If these people were looking for parts, they’d have passed many that would give them enough money to do what they needed to do. If they were looking for straight cash, they wouldn’t be taking so much time looking around, they would go straight to the cash register. So why are they here? And why is Leo’s fear turning into anger and determination to protect his mother all at once?

Each time a piece of metal machinery is knocked into or thrown out of the way, Leo can feel his mother wince. He knows she’s scared. As brave as she is, there isn’t a lot of protection she can offer to Leo in this moment, other than her hand squeezing his, and that scares her. Leo wishes he could tell her, that he can and will protect her with his powers, but now is obviously not the time to bring that up. The footsteps are so near now, and the voices are clear. Leo can hear what they’re saying. 

“Not here.” one comments. 

“Keep looking.” the other barks. “She said she’d be here, and it would be here too.”

Leo looks over at his mom, brows furrowed, and she gives him the same confused expression. 

“Did you look by the front yet?” The second voice asks. “Under the table and shit?”

Leo’s mom squeezes his hand tightly, and before he can think of another plan, she taps out an  _ I love you _ and stands up. 

“Please don’t hurt me.” She says quickly, hands in the air. “I’m the only one here. You can have anything, the parts, the money, just don’t shoot.”

Don’t shoot? They have guns. Guns probably pointed at his mom, and Leo is hiding under this table. He feels so helpless. So angry. 

“We’re not going to shoot you.” the first voice says. “If you tell us where it is, then we’ll leave. No one has to get hurt.”

“The money?” Leo’s mom asks, her voice shaking with nerves. “It’s in the register, I’ll just get it-”

“Not the money, lady.” the second voice growls again. “You know what we’re talking about.”

“I-I swear to you, I don’t.”

“Don’t play dumb.”

Leo hears the gun cock again, and he knows his mom. He knows that she’ll stand there and try and keep herself in harm’s way in hopes that Leo would be alright, but he can’t handle this. That’s why he does it. He follows his gut and pulls his mom’s ankle hard, pulling her back down to the ground before standing up and taking her place. Leo, feeling anger grow in him, can feel the flames threatening to line his skin. He stares at the two in front of him. Their faces are obscured, especially in the darkness, but Leo feels a sinking feeling that he’s met them before. He recognizes those voices and those guns, and he tries to piece together why the fuck they would be here?

“Thought you said you were alone.”

Leo’s mom stands back up beside him, wrenching Leo behind her. “I lied.” she says, simply. “I was trying to protect my son.”

“If you lied about him,” the man says, pointing past her to focus on Leo. “Then how should we believe you don’t have what we’re looking for?”

And for the first time, Leo sees a crack in his mother’s demeanor. He comes to the same realization that the robbers do. That his mom  _ is  _ lying. She’s not clueless. She knows exactly what they’re looking for. Leo feels a shock run through his system, as if he doesn’t really know the woman standing in front of him like he thought he did. 

“Mom, what are they talking about?” Leo asks. She spares him a glance, her expression pained but fierce. 

“Nothing, baby. It’s okay.” she says, trying to reassure him, but Leo is scared out of his mind, and this is obviously not nothing. 

“Listen lady, if you’re not going to tell us where it is, we’re taking you in and ripping your place to the ground. So are you going to help us or not?”

Leo watches his mom weigh her options. He can’t think of anything that would be more important to her than her life and her business. She’s putting everything she’s built on the line and for what? His brain run through anything he could do to try and help. He doesn’t have any of his gadgets, but he has his powers. Powers could work. He’s got himself out of a situation like this before. If he could just get his mom out of the way, then-

“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”

No. no mom, no, Leo thinks. 

The first man puts his gun away. “Well then, I’m sorry too. We have to take you with us.”

And as they step towards them, Leo’s mom makes no move to run, no move to fight. 

“Mom, stop.” Leo says, grabbing her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

She turns to him, her eyes serious as he’s ever seen them. “Mijo, run. Run now.” she says, just above a whisper. “I love you.”

“I’m not leaving you.” he says, adamantly. His mom gasps as the first man grabs her wrists, and pulls her out from behind the table. 

It’s at that moment when Leo’s fear becomes uncontrollable. Leo has one thing in his life, one thing that’s been there for him forever. One person who has believed in him and loved him for him his whole life and that’s his mom. And he can’t even thinking about letting someone take her away. 

He can feel it the second it starts. Flames ripples off his shoulders, down his arms, and all down his hands. 

“Let. Her. Go.”

His mom stares at him in disbelief, and he can see the eyes of the first man narrow. 

“You again?”

Leo doesn’t have time to process, before he’s running forward and punching the man that has his mom in the face. 

The rest of the fight is… a blur. Leo loses track of where his mom is, and focuses completely on the two men in front of him. He punches, he kicks, he gets thrown around, the flames on his arms spreading through the room around them, but Leo barely notices. He finally gets the guys where he wants them, cornered and weaponless, and that’s when he pulls himself back to reality. 

What is he supposed to do with them now? He doesn’t want to kill them, he won’t kill anyone. But if he lets them go then how he can he ever leave knowing his mom won’t be safe? They can come back at anytime, and what if Leo isn’t there to protect her? 

Leo hesitates a second too long. He takes too much time thinking about what he’s going to do, and the men bolt. Leo does the only thing he can think of and he pursues them. He runs after those two, determined to catch them, and hopefully put them in jail. That’s the only way Leo could feel like his mom is safe. He keeps running, and he’s almost got a hold on the collar of one of them when he hears the sirens. 

His heart stops, as he turns around to see the garage engulfed in flames. Leo’s mind goes frantic. Where is his mom? He hasn’t seen her since the fight began. He only started that fight so that she could get away and get out, but a cold chill runs down his spine as he realizes she may have never ran out. Leo runs back, as fast as he can, ignoring the yells from the neighbors, and dives back through the smashed window inside. His hands are shaking and his head is pounding as he darts through the flames, looking and looking and looking for his mom. He throws melted car parts out of the way, and he feels like he’s drowning, and then he finally finds her. 

She’s slumped against the back door. Face tinged with ash, one hand over her mouth, the other at the doorknob. It looks like she was trying to get out before she-

Leo runs toward her and pulls her into his arms. She’s like dead weight, but Leo just holds tight, determined to get her out. He does, and quickly lays her onto the grass. 

“Mom,” Leo rasps, his voice shaking. He lifts his hand up to cup her cheek, looking into her half open eyes. “Mama, please.”

She coughs. A hard, hacking cough, and turns her head to spit dark gray onto the grass beside her. “Mijo.”   
Tears well in Leo’s eyes at the sound of her voice. It’s awful. It’s cracked, and rough, and she looks so sick and tired, it hurts him.    
“Don’t try and talk.” he says, reaching up and cupping her other cheek. “You’re okay, mama. It’s fine, you’re fine.”

She coughs again, and this time her eyes squeeze shut, as if the act of breathing is causing her pain. 

Leo can’t think. He can’t think and it’s making him go insane. His mom’s head lolls back onto the grass, and Leo is quick to catch it, lifting her head back up. 

“No, no. Please stay with me.” he pleads, thumbing over her cheeks. “You can’t go mama, because it’s my fault. It’s my fault this happened because I have those stupid powers.”

And then it all comes pouring out in rambles. “I got them mama, and I wanted to tell you but I was so scared. I know you hate them and I wanted to tell you that I was going to be a hero that made you proud.” he lets roll out, as tears start to streak at his ash covered face. “I was going to be the hero that saved people like us. But now everything is my fault because I just wanted to protect you.”

She reaches up weakly, and touches at Leo’s chest. He feels her tapping. He doesn’t even need to think, as the  _ I love you _ is second nature to them. Leo reaches up and holds her hand to his chest, feeling an overwhelming sense of pain. 

“Powers or not.” she wheezes, words coming out slow and broken. “You- were always- my hero.”

She gives him a warm, reassuring look through that pain, before letting her body go limp. Her eyes shut, and Leo can feel her grip on his hand releasing. 

No. No this isn’t happening. Leo is just staring down at his mom waiting for her to get back up. Waiting for her eyes to open and for her to make some stupid joke about him having to stop messing around and get back to work. But she doesn’t. She just lays there, face smeared with ash, motionless. Leo can hear the sirens and the voices behind him, but everything has dulled out. He wants to get help, an EMT, he wants to invent some life saving machine to try and reverse time and bring her back.

A hand sets on his shoulder, but Leo barely registers it. He can’t stop staring at her. The woman who had given him so much. Given everything for him. Even her life. 

He barely remembers getting pulled away from her. Watching them take her away as firefighters douse the garage with water, trying desperately to save any part of it. Nyssa arrives with her coat over her pajamas to pick him up. She pulls him into her arms, and the feeling is comforting, but it can’t ease the emptiness in his stomach, and the sense of guilt on his shoulders. 

It’s blurry. The only thing Leo remembers clearly is that he vowed to never use his powers again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I'm so sorry for the late update! I was on vacation and away from my writing. Hopefully the schedule will be back with one chapter a week from now on!  
> I actually really like how this chapter turned out. I really wanted to show the dichotomy of Leo using powers and how it affects arguably the most important women in his life in different ways.   
> I'm also sorry about the death, but as this is a superhero origin story, I felt it necessary and really important to Leo's growth as a hero and as a character as a whole.  
> Next chapter will be super exciting! At least one superhero's identity will be revealed, and I can't wait.   
> Thank you for continuing to read and giving such nice comments and kudos! Ya'll rock!  
> Update will hopefully be up within the week :)


	6. I'm not a superhero

_“Esperanza was a staple in this community. She was tough as nails but soft as all hell when she wanted to be. She was the kind of woman that all little girls should want to grow up to be. A real life superhero.”_

_“She was my boss, but more than that, she was one of my greatest inspirations. A woman with so much determination and compassion that it was impressive she could hold it all inside her.”_

_“She was young. Too young to be taken. She had so much more to live for, and the world is a much sadder place without her in it.”_

_“People always say that the goal isn’t to live forever, it’s to build something that will. Esperanza did that and more.”_

_“Esperanza loved all of us and the garage like we were the most wonderful thing in the world, but there is no one and nothing she loved more on this earth than her son, Leo.”_

*

The funeral was hard. It was hard for Leo to hear so many people talking about how important and loved his mom was, in the past tense. Hearing the amount of praise surrounding everything she had created, only to know she is never coming back. It’s almost too much. 

For as long as Leo can remember, his mind has been buzzing a mile a minute, hundreds of different thoughts flying through his head at any given moment, but since that night, there’s nothing. 

His thoughts are stagnant. Blank. As if the whole world around him has slowed and forced him to face the fact that in the past week, virtually every part of his childhood that he held dear has been ripped to shreds. 

The garage is a charred husk of what it once was, currently drowning in debt as a result of the damage to the property and the cars inside. His childhood home, once filled with the smell of his mom’s food, and all of his creations since he first learned to build, is empty. On the market for someone else. And his mom-

Well. She’s gone. 

Even though Leo is at the worst point in his life, he’s found a bright spot being with Nyssa. She not only handled all the funeral business and called his school to get him out for a week, but she even took it upon herself, as Leo’s self appointed godmother, to offer up her small apartment to house his things and live in anytime he wanted to visit home. She also offered Leo an endless amount of hugs which was appreciated, but could only do so much to ease the ache in his heart. 

Leo didn’t really know what grief was supposed to feel like, but for the past week, after crying for a day straight, he hasn’t felt much at all. Things that used to make him happy, like talking to people and inventing things all seem so.. He’s not sure. Obsolete. 

On the subject of talking to people, Frank, had surprisingly reached out about a day after it happened. And it actually was a pretty heartfelt text coming from Zhang. 

Leo remembers vividly the day that they found out Frank’s mom, a soldier who was deployed in Afghanistan, had died. 

Leo appreciated the text, because despite their ups and downs, Leo was glad to have Frank as a roommate, but there was another part of him that resented the text. Resented the fact that now, Leo was just like Frank. A pitiable nerd with a dead mom. 

The only other connection Leo has had to his life back in the city was from his podcast. The podcast he’s been ignoring listening to for days, until the newest notification forces him to plug in his headphones and listen. He stares up at the ceiling, as the familiar intro music begins. The sounds hums something to life in him, but he ignores it. 

“Now twitter saw it first, but we at SoCal Supernatural have launched our very first campaign entitled #FINDOURFIRE. Over the past few weeks, a freaking awesome super person has graced our city with their presence, working on their own to help civilians with genius tech and fire hands. They had been single handedly lowering our crime rate, and not unlike the avatar, they vanished when we arguably needed them most. Recently our Super person has been off the radar and our crime rate has gained a couple percentage points. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

Leo covers his face in his hands as he listens, shoving down the burning in his stomach that is pulling him towards the people out there looking for him. 

“So now our goal is to find our super person and bring them back. Fire person, if you’re listening, come back. We need you. The city needs-”  
It’s then that Leo rips the headphones out and tosses his phone aside. Tears well up in his eyes, something he thought he wasn’t capable of after the past week. But he can’t help it. 

It’s just- these people have so much blind faith in anyone who puts on a superhero costume and claims they can protect the city. Leo put on that stupid disguise and walked around the city acting like he could save it, but then he failed to save the one person he loved more than anything in the world. If he couldn’t save her, then how the hell does anyone expect him to be the one to save the city? He doesn’t know. And he doesn’t care. Because he’s learned firsthand his powers do more harm than good.

*

At the end of his week off, Leo returns to campus. Nyssa offered to drive him, but he took the bus instead, kind of desperate to be away from all the sad looks he gets from everyone he talks to. It’s Sunday night when he gets there, and thankfully his dorm room is empty. He doesn’t know where Frank is, but he’s glad he’s gone. 

Leo needs time to regroup. Acclimate himself to school again, where he can try his best to go back to normal. 

It’s easier being here than it was being home. Everything here is new, and hardly anything can remind him of her. 

As Leo is going through his stuff, he finds his jacket, his gadgets, and his mask from the dollar store, and something inside him snaps. Leo had been feeling nothing for days, and then looking at this stuff he feels complete and utter rage. Anger towards his powers, anger over the fact that they caused his mother’s death. Anger tears burn in his eyes as he throws all of his Super stuff into the trash can, and shoves it down in with his boot. He stops his boot again, ripping his mask and crushing his gadgets. He does it again, and again, and again until his foot hurts. He rakes his hand through his hair and kicks over the trash can, spewing the contents of it all over the floor. Leo feels his insides turning hot, as he shoves his face in his hands, wanting to scream. 

The door opens behind him, and Leo whips around, eyes wide and red rimmed, to see Frank and… Hazel?

“Oh my god, Leo.” Hazel breathes. She shoves past Frank in the doorway and wraps her arms around Leo. And for the first time in a long time, a good kind of warmth fills Leo’s chest. A warmth he genuinely thought he might never feel again.

“I heard about your mom.” she whispers. “I am so so sorry. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through and I want you to know I’m here for you.”

Leo hugs her tighter against him. “Thank you.”

She pulls back from him to thumb at the wetness under his eyes. 

“You two know each other?” Frank asks, breaking Leo and Hazel out of their gaze held on each other. 

“Yeah.” Leo says, rubbing at his eyes. “Hazel and I met at the party at the beginning of school, remember?”

Leo tries to convey to Frank that Hazel is the girl he likes and has been talking about forever, but he can’t tell if he picks up on that. He’s pretty preoccupied with Hazel holding his arm protectively, and giving him the first positive feeling he’s had in days. 

“How do..” Leo clears his throat. “Uh how do you two know each other?”

Leo looks to Frank who had evidently turned a sickly shade of green, contrasting the orange turtleneck he’s sporting. He doesn’t answer. He just stares wide eyed at Leo. 

Weirdo. So instead, Leo turns to Hazel, who smiles. 

“It’s funny, actually. About the time we became friends, Frank and I started seeing each other-”

Hazel continues talking, but Leo stopped listening the second Hazel said “ _seeing each other”_ because that is the exact moment the world, Leo had been trying to rebuild in his mom’s absence, came crashing down around him. 

“It’s Frank?” Leo blurts out, bitterly, recalling the conversation he and Hazel had when he saved her. “The guy you’re seeing is _Frank?”_

“Leo.” Frank says, stepping forward, obviously sensing Leo is about to combust. 

“No, I’m- I’m happy for you guys. I actually really _love_ finding out that I am not good enough for any girl, as usual, and that I continue to remain completely and utterly alone.”

“Leo, what are you talking about?” Hazel asks. “You are not alone.”

“YES. I AM.” he yells, letting the fiery anger in him start to seep out. “And thanks, but I don’t need your pity over it.”

“No one is pitying you.” Frank says, calmly, and it makes Leo even more mad how calm he’s being. How can he act like this when Leo feels like he’s on fire? 

Leo can feel himself winding up to yell at Frank, and some rational part of him drags him out of it, and tells him to run. So he does. He gets out of Hazel’s grip, and runs past Frank, feeling all the emotions he’d been denied of burning up inside him right now. His body sizzles. His skin feels like he it’s melting off, and with his anger at an all time high, Leo thinks if he looked in a mirror, he’d be bright red.

He can’t tell if it’s the anger or the fire, but he’s sure whichever one it is, it’s making the latter burn even angrier inside him. 

It’s like they feed off each other, his emotions and powers wrestling and culminating in white hot rage.  
Leo has the anger he feels towards Frank, Hazel, the world, and above all himself pounding at his insides and he needs to let it out. 

His brain drives him into a secluded alleyway and Leo lets out an almighty scream.

*

The scream seemed to come out of Leo’s entire body, scorching and blackening the area around him. He doesn’t know how long it lasted, but it felt like an eternity. And the second he stopped screaming, the most overwhelming feeling of tiredness washed over him, and without much control, Leo collapsed on the asphalt and passed out. 

*

When he comes to, Leo feels a lot of things. Tired. Hungry. Hot. But surprisingly, angry is not on that list. He can’t even really remember what he was mad about before. Everything seemed to have poured out of his body with that scream, and left him just.. Plain old Leo. He glances around, and realizes he’s in the same alleyway, but there’s now someone with their face in his face, staring at him. 

“You’re awake.” the person says. “Good.”

It takes the person backing up and hurriedly typing on their phone a few feet away for Leo’s vision to unblur, and for him to realize the person is Jason. Jason who is so aggressively calm and apparently unbothered by the fact that Leo is sprawled out on the ground after a massive scream. 

“How did you find me?” Leo manages, pulling Jason’s gaze up to him. 

“Well, I heard you before I saw you. And then I got here and well-”

He cuts himself off, as if he almost said something he wasn’t supposed to. “Well anyways you passed out and I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

“You didn’t call anyone? Didn’t my lifeless body on the ground concern you?”

Jason’s face softens as he tucks his phone into his pocket. “Of course I was concerned, Leo, but I knew that I was the only one who could handle the situation.”

Leo furrows his brows. “Jason, bro, what are you on?” he asks, pulling himself up off the ground. His legs wobble, and he sees spots in his eyes, but stays firm on his two feet. “Being a nice person does not equate to being a grief counselor.”

“I’m not talking about the grief, Leo.” Jason says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Even though I did hear about that and I’m really sorry for your loss.”

Leo turns on his heels with a scoff. “Yeah, aren’t we all.”

“Leo, don’t leave.”  
“Why not?” he asks over his shoulder. “What else could we possibly have to talk about?”

“The fact that I just watched you set your whole body on fire?”  
Leo stops in his tracks. His heart rate increases as he turns back to look at Jason. “What did you just say?”

“When I got here, right before you passed out, you were completely on fire, and then a second later you were just you. No burns, no smoke, nothing. And I think we should talk about that.”

Leo stays silent, focusing his gaze onto Jason’s library name tag hanging around his neck.

“Leo, I know that you’re going through a hard time right now but I can help you.”

“How could you possibly help me?”

Jason bites on his lip. 

“I’m-” he glances around quickly before saying in a hushed voice. “I’m Metal Man.”

“What?”

“I’m Metal Man, and I’m only telling you this because I just saw you, and I know that you’re the fire guy that’s been saving the city. The fire guy that I’ve been looking for ever since the first night you started helping downtown.” He says, his voice incredibly confident for someone who sounds like an absolute idiot. “And I know that I can help you. I also know that if you agree to, you could really help me out as well.”

Leo stares at Jason for a second before bursting out laughing. Like completely laughing his head off because the shit coming out of Jason’s mouth might damn near be the funniest thing Leo has ever heard. 

“You…” Leo manages, leaning forward and clutching at his sides. “You are Metal Man.”

His own words send him into another raucous fit of laughter. He catches a glance at Jason who looks wholly unamused. 

“This is funny to you?”

“I mean a little bit.”

Jason looks at him, impatiently. 

“I mean come on Jason. You're- you’re a nerd! You work in the library for god sakes. I mean I guess you have the arms and everything, but you’re not the kind of rich, dashing, fearsome guy who's a superhero.”

Jason studies him.. “And you are?”

All the humor from the situation fades at his question. Leo straightens up and squares his shoulders. “I’m not a superhero.” he tells Jason straight. “Powers are shit, and I’ve figured out no matter how many people I help, it isn’t worth the people who get hurt.”

Jason is quiet as he listens to Leo. 

“So yeah, I can’t help you. I’m not a hero. And I’d believe that my mom could come back from the dead, before I’d ever believe that you’re Metal Man.”

Leo shoves his hands into his pockets and heads in the other direction. His brain has started to buzz once again, mulling over the repercussions of Jason knowing his secret, and that unbeknownst to him, Leo used his powers in the strongest way yet after vowing to stop using his powers. Leo is only pulled out of his own thoughts by an 800 pound dumpster sailing over his head and blocking his exit. 

Leo turns around, wide eyed, to see Jason lofting the second dumpster above his head with one hand. 

“Now.” Jason says, hefting the metal crate in his hand. “Am I going to have to throw this one too, or are you going to listen to me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaangst. All the angst.  
> I'm really enjoying writing this fic at the moment! She's picking up and I am so excited I'm updating early and already have the next chapter written. I think this is so interesting because Leo is typically such a happy goofy character, but I really couldn't see him reacting any other way so therefore, angst. This is unlike literally anything I've tried writing before so thanks for reading and giving me nice comments and kudos! It always helps :)  
> next chapter up soon!


	7. So, what do you guys say?

“You guys have really been looking all over for me?” Leo asks, walking side by side with Jason.

Jason nods. “Ever since the protest we’ve been looking for you.” he says, “Things are pretty bad in the city right now and we need all the help we can get in making sure the citizens are safe.”

“From crime and stuff?”

Jason seems to hesitate in answering this one. “...Yeah, and well- we’ll talk about it when we’re with everyone else.”

So yeah, After getting Jason to put down the dumpster, Leo decided to for real hear him out. Jason told him that their group of super people has been working on city protection for about a year now, but things are still bad. He insists that now more than ever, they need Leo to help them. As much as he wants to deny it, Jason’s words start a fire in Leo’s stomach. He wants to say that his words don’t affect him at all, that Jason and his super people can go to hell because Leo has turned his back on all of that super stuff after his mom but he can’t. There’s this voice in the back of his head, one that sounds suspiciously like his mom, telling him that there are people that he can help. That there are four other superheroes, strong awesome comic book character ass superheroes that want to work with him to save the city from whatever impending doom it’s facing. The same voice tries it’s damnedest to throw subdue Leo’s fears by telling him that with five super people working together, the same thing won’t happen. They’ll be able to save everyone.

Leo isn’t sure how much truth that voice is telling, and he’s not making any promises to join this super league, but he feels like he at least owes it to himself to see what they’re all about.

“So where exactly are we going?” Leo asks. He’s been following Jason for a couple of blocks now, still feeling dead tired, but doing his best to keep up. “Do you guys have a secret hideout or something? A lair?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t call it a lair.” Jason says, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s more of a… studio apartment.”

“How the fuck do you guys afford a studio apartment?” Leo asks, incredulously. “No way the library pays that much.”

Jason laughs. “No, it doesn’t.”

“So which one of you is secretly an elderly billionaire paying for this?” Leo asks. “Is it Opia?”

Jason’s cheeks redden. “Of course not, no. We’re all college students.”

“Do you all go to Caltech?” 

Jason nods.

“What the fuck? What are the odds of that?”

Jason shrugs. “You have to think someone planned for it.”

He’s quiet for a second before glancing over at Leo again. “But I definitely don’t think they planned for you.”

Leo snorts. “Yeah, people usually don’t. I’m kind of a dark horse.”

“And you’re the dark horse we need.” 

Jason sets his hand on Leo’s shoulder and immediately retracts it. “Hot.”

“Sorry.” Leo says. “Wait, aren’t you invincible?”

Jason furrows his brows. “Yeah but sometimes.. I don't know, like brief moments happen where I can feel stuff I normally can't."

Jason shakes the conversation out of his head and stops himself on the sidewalk, looking up at the building in front of them. 

“We’re here.” he tells Leo.

Leo looks up, and it really does look like just a studio apartment. 

“Do we just walk in?”

Jason shakes his head. “We enter through the back.” he explains, walking that way. “We climb the fire escape up to the top floor and go in the window.”   
That fiery fluttering returns to Leo’s stomach but he shoves it down again. Remember. Don’t forget the reason you turned away from powers in the first place.

Leo shakes the childlike wonder out his head and follows Jason up the fire escape. 

“So is this the secret entrance to avoid being caught by criminals in the front?” Leo asks, before he can help himself. 

“No, it’s just because if we went in the front we would have to be buzzed in every single time, and that’s just too much of a hassle.”

Sheesh, Leo thinks. Way to take all the coolness out of it, Jason. 

They reach the seventh floor and hop up onto the balcony. Jason does it with ease, but Leo who is still recovering from his ahem, incident, earlier get a little caught on the ledge before making it all the way over. 

Thankfully Jason doesn’t make fun of him.

Jason crosses over to the window and kneels down, pausing to look back at Leo. 

“Are you ready to meet the people who have been keeping the city safe for the past year?”

“Let’s do it.”

*

Leo was highkey expecting to walk into an intergalactic containment facility or a meeting room with crime reports and superhero costumes in glass cases, but what he actually stepped into was an average 19 year old girl’s apartment. 

“Hey gang!” Jason calls, like this is Scooby Doo. “We’re here.”

He kicks off his shoes and steps onto the carpet, and Leo follows suit. Jason glances out across the deserted room, clearly looking for a response, and eventually he gets one. 

“Hi, sorry. Just a second.”

And a second later, she appears. And Leo feels that warm rush over him just as it did the first time he met her. Even in sweatpants and a Caltech sweater, Leo knows it’s Opia. 

“This is him?” she asks. Jason nods. 

She steps a little closer, looking Leo over. It’s like she’s trying to read his aura or something, which Leo realizes she actually might be. 

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” Jason affirms, throwing an arm around Leo. “Saw it with my own two eyes.”

She nods and offers Leo a hand and a smile. He takes her hand and is immediately overwhelmed with a sense of nervousness in his stomach and tension in his shoulders. He pulls his hand back quickly. The feeling fades and Opia frowns. 

“Shoot. Sorry. I didn’t mean to-” her voice trails off. 

“It’s- It’s okay.” he assures her. “I’m Leo.”

She glances at Jason who gives her another nod before she says “I’m Piper.”

“Your name isn’t really Opia?”

She laughs, and Leo’s heart flutters at the sound. “Powers, name, and everything all kind of came together.”

Leo nods, unable to pull his gaze away from her face. And not because she’s beautiful, which she is, it’s because there’s something missing. 

“Not to be rude, but-” he begins, clearing his throat. “But where’s the..”

“The giant jewel on my forehead?”

Leo chuckles. “Uh yeah.”

She gently runs her fingertips over her forehead and the jewel materializes into place. Leo’s eyes widen. He knows it’s magic and all, but this looks like the most sophisticated camouflage tech ever and it makes his heart soar. Leo hasn’t felt excited about machinery and inventing in days so this is a welcome return to one of his true joys.

“It’s always there, it’s just usually more appropriate to have it hidden.” 

“Makes sense.”

A beat passes, and then Leo asks:

“Can I touch it?”

Opia, er, Piper giggles. “Why not?”

Leo leans in to touch it, and is stopped by Jason clearing his throat. 

“Are the others here?” Jason asks, suddenly, pulling Leo back to his standing position. 

Piper nods, quickly waving her jewel back into hiding. “They’re all here, don’t worry.” she says, easing the tension in Jason’s shoulders. “They’re just talking about the.. current situation.”

“Well the current situation is in the living room right now, so I think it’d help them if they came out here and met him!”

Jason smiles, and looks like he wants to clap Leo on the back again, but is consciously restraining himself. 

“Guys can you come out here please?”

This time, there’s no verbal response, but ten seconds later, the sound of footsteps stokes the flames in Leo’s stomach. He’s supposed to be hesitant, but he’s  _ excited.  _ After meeting Jason and Piper, who are both really nice and have cool powers, he can’t even imagine how much the next two are going to feel like heroes to him. He’s already encountered Reaper before but the fourth one, the one with a million sick powers that no one knows is going to be so COOL. No one knows anything about them, and in about five seconds, Leo is going to. That’s crazy. 

Leo stares expectantly at the doorway, and the second the two heroes appear in the door, Leo’s face drops, because standing behind Reaper, with the guiltiest expression on his face, Is 

Frank Fucking Zhang. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Leo, can I explain?” Frank asks, desperately. Leo promptly ignores him.

“Hell no! Frank what the hell are you doing here? Do you guys just let anyone in?”   
“How do you two know each other?”

“He’s my roommate.” They say in unison.

Leo gets hit with the earlier events of the day like a ton of bricks, and it starts to remind him what caused that fire filled scream he let out. It’s building up, he needs to get out of here. 

“Sorry Jason, I have to go.”

He turns toward the window, but is stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Warmth, and calm energy melts over him

“Please don’t go. We need you. So please give us a chance.”

Logically, Leo knows his emotions are being manipulated, but he can’t stop himself from sitting down. It’s like a trance. 

“I’m so sorry.” Piper says, taking her hand off him. “I really  _ really  _ don’t like doing that but this is really freaking important Leo, and we need you to stay.”

Leo ignores Frank’s gaze on him, and turns back to Jason. “Okay. Just get on with it already.”

Jason scrambles to the front and puts on a smile, despite the obvious tension in the room. 

“Okay. Yeah. For sure. So Leo, meet...everyone!”

“We’ve all met before.” Leo says, dryly. 

“O-okay then. Well. Everyone here is a part of our super team. We formed for real about a year ago and although you may think we’re like every other super team in the world, you would be mistaken.”

The room is dead silent. 

Leo kind of feels bad for the guy. Jason is preaching to the choir, if the choir wanted to take turns pushing each other out the seventh story window.

“I think we’re pretty unique because we all work together in a group, but we kind of have our own personal reasons for being here, which is, you know, fun.” Jason looks around expectantly at his group. “Reasons like-”

“Familial obligation.” Frank answers, staring up at the ceiling. 

“Revenge.” Reaper adds on, staring at her nails. 

Jason laughs awkwardly. “And some of us just like helping people.”

Wow. This group is much more disjointed than Leo anticipated. He wonders if that’s why they rarely appear as a full group. Jason tries to play off their differences as fun and quirky, but those would be the last words Leo would use to describe this group. 

“But,” Jason continues. “Despite our differences, we are all collectively working to take down Hera Sospita.”

Leo furrows his brows. “You’re using your super powers to take down a shitty mayor?”

“She’s not just the mayor.” Piper explains. “She’s… like us.”

“What? She has powers?”

Piper nods. “Her voice. She has the ability to kind of mind control the people with it; that’s how she’s gotten control of the city so quickly. We also think that by speaking what she wants she has some power over altering reality itself which is.. really scary, but it’s something we have to deal with too.”

“Wait, so how are you guys not brainwashed?”   
Jason shrugs. “Short answer is, I don’t know. Long answer is that we’re pretty sure that for whatever reason, young people aren’t affected as much. That’s why we think we’re the only ones who can stop her.”

Leo mulls this over. It does seem strange. Everything is lining up too well, making too much sense. An evil mayor who they hate in real life happens to be the superpowered enemy of a bunch of college kids, who are conveniently super and unaffected by her powers? 

“Well why does she want to take over the city anyways?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Jason says. “She’s been recruiting people around our age and her prowess is only growing, but for what? We’re sure there’s something she’s after besides unfairly jailing minorities and further her political standing, so for the past couple of months we’ve been focused observing her and doing damage control around the city.”

Months? Leo can’t fathom they’ve made such little progress on this in such a long amount of time. Even with being full time students with a stressful group dynamic, the most hyped superheroes in the city should be capable of more than this, right?

“That’s it?” he blurts out, and Jason’s face falls a little. 

“And we’ve been doing-”   
“Yes. That’s it.” 

Heads turn to Reaper, who crosses her arms, eyes narrowing at Jason. “I mean that’s what those who’ve been following our ‘fearless leader’ have been doing. Some of us have actually been tracking Hera’s followers and figuring shit out.”

Jason sighs, as if this kind of push back is a regular occurrence. “Just because I put the safety of this group ahead of recklessly diving into situations doesn’t mean your methods are any better than mine.”

Okay, things are heating up in here, and Leo’s not even the one doing it. 

“Oh and what’s your next play, Jason? Taking in the mediocre firebender to have him take a slot on watch duty?” She asks “You keep saying he’s going to change things for us but all I see is a stupid kid with no skin in this game, who let my guys get away.”

“Hey.” Leo says, and is promptly ignored. 

Reaper stands up from the couch, staring Jason down, who stares her right back. 

“And while we’re on the subject, don’t forget. I didn’t join this stupid thing to be a part of the team. I joined to get my revenge on Hera for fucking up my life and taking my best friend so, I’m out.”

Jason pinches the bridge of his nose, and Frank twiddles his thumbs. Only Piper takes it upon herself to try and hold the group together.

“Wait.” Piper says, standing up to follow her, “Anna-”

“Don’t.” Reaper snaps. “Use my real name.”

Reaper turns to leave once again, and this time, surprising even himself, it’s Leo who tries to stop her. 

“Hey. Reaper. I’m talking to you.”

She turns around slowly, a murderous look in her gray eyes. But for some reason, Leo’s confidence doesn’t waver as he stares into the eyes of the girl across from him. 

“You said I don’t have skin in the game?” he asks, his voice starting to waver at the painful memory crossing his mind. “Well my mom died in front of my eyes a week ago. She was protecting something from two guys that I’m 99% sure work for Hera.”

Reaper’s gaze wavers. 

“So I’d say I have a huge reason to join this group and get revenge.” he continues. “I also though, have a huge reason not to join because of that same thing that happened.”

Leo bites down on his lip, trying to make a decision that he’s utterly torn over in a matter of seconds. “But I’d- I’d join, for real, if I knew that all of you were going to work on it too.”

Leo stares out at the group in front of him, even Frank, seeing them as the disassembled pieces of a machine. If he could just figure out how to fit them together, he could maybe find a way to honor his mom, and save the city too. 

The group watches him too. They don’t say anything, but none of them make a move to leave. 

“So, what do you guys say?”

Leo thrusts his fist into the circle and patiently awaits the rest of the group to become superhero cliches and thrust their fists in as well to signal the beginning of their alliance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! The whole gang!  
> Listen, I am so freaking excited for the rest of this fic. I spent like a million years figuring out the whole plot last night and it's going to be wild and probably really long oops!  
> Anyways I'm so excited to get more into this group dynamic and introduce more about all our our awesome heroes so please stay tuned! I have like the next three or four chapters already written so updates will not be far away :)  
> Thank you all for reading and leaving kudos and such nice comments they literally make my day.


	8. Oh cause we're just like the Avengers

Absolutely no one puts their fists in. Stared at Leo in silence, is what they all did. But Leo is nothing if not persistence when he’s trying to fit in somewhere he’s not welcome. He keeps his hand there, glancing around at those in the room, waiting for them to join him. Jason eventually puts his fist against Leo’s, but judging by his face it’s cause he felt bad for Leo. 

“I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

“Just give it a minute!” Leo insists. “They’ll come around.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Oh come on guys!” Leo says, pulling his fist back. “Seriously? My heart wrenching speech did nothing to sway you back into this? By joining this team I’m pretty much shitting on all the promises I made to myself and my mom, so can you keep that in mind as you turn your backs on me and this city?”  
A sigh answers him, and then:

“Fine, I’m in.”

Leo follows the voice back to Frank. Before he has time to dwell on a clapback, as he’s still unhappy with him, another speaks up. 

“Me too.”

Leo shifts his gaze to Piper who gives him a warm smile. And then all eyes turn to the bemasked blonde who has yet to say a word since her blow up. 

“What do you say, Reaper?”  
She tilts her chin up at him. “You think you can win me over with a sob story?”

“Well that was the plan.”

“Tell me exactly what you would bring to this _thing_ we’re doing, and why it would be any different that what we’re doing right now?”  
“Besides my genius intelligence and devilishly handsome face?”

Silences in response. Jeez, these people need to take a joke once in a while. 

This group is… weird. They hate comedy for one, and they really don't like each other all that much. They have nothing in common, they don’t know how to listen to each other, and for some reason Leo, in the darkest time in his life, has been appointed to try and put them all back together.

Leo thinks about how fucked up this situation is, and it dawns on him. That this might be the thing to redeem him. If he can be vulnerable enough to get them all in, then he can have the opportunity to make up for what happened at the garage that night. And that’s enough to pull a rare serious moment from Leo Valdez. 

“Okay. Straight up, I don’t know if I’m going to be the big savior-y hero Jason might have made me out to be. I’m still really new to the whole super thing, but I actually think I’m pretty good at it.” he says, a small smile playing on his lips. “I’ve stopped guys with guns, saved a few people, and I actually _like_ doing it. I’m smart, I’ve got fire hands, I’ve built tech for myself and I can do it for you guys too, and I’ll do what you need me to do. As far as why it will be different?”

Leo takes a shaky breath, as he momentarily lets in memories from that night. 

“My mom died protecting something from Hera and her guys, something they really need. That’s a new lead and I think this could be the thing that stops her.”

Reaper stares at him, expression unreadable. And then she drops her gaze. 

“Fine. I’ll stay. But not for any of you.” she says, as if it wasn’t crystal clear she’s all business. “I’m staying for his mom’s thing. We’ll talk on Sunday because I’m sick of being here.”

And just like that she strides over to the window, and jumps out. 

“Well.” Jason says, clapping his hands together. “I’d say that was the most successful meeting we’ve had in months.”

“Do you think that this’ll ever be more than a revenge fantasy for her?” Piper asks suddenly, with her shoulder slumped. The sad tone of her voice takes the wind out of Jason’s sails. “I mean everytime I think she might like working with us, she does, well- that.”

Jason frowns and comes to sit beside her. He nudges her shoulder with his. 

“Hey. You know that’s how she is. All we can do is keep our arms open in case one day she changes her mind.”

Piper sighs. “I know I know.”

“So am I good to leave?” Frank asks, breaking the tender moment between Jason and Piper. 

Jason reluctantly breaks his gaze with Piper and turns to Franks. 

“Yeah man, get some rest.”

Frank nods and stands up, visibly hesitating before turning to Leo.

“Need a ride?”

Leo’s immediate thought is HELL NO, but he can almost hear his mother’s voice telling him 

_“Frank is nice enough to drive you and I don’t want you to keep him waiting.”_

So he says yes. 

*

“So…” Frank says, gripping the steering wheel tightly. “You’re the fire guy.”

Leo nods slowly. “And you’re the creature?”

Frank shifts in his seat uncomfortably. 

Fire heats in Leo’s stomach as he continues with “The creature who’s dating Hazel.”

Frank is quiet for a second. 

“How was I supposed to know?” he asks, sounding hurt. “It’s not like I found out you liked her and decided to spite you.”

Leo knows that, but it doesn’t change how he feels. It doesn’t change the anger burning inside him, or that Hazel is the only girl he ever liked who he thought might’ve liked him back. 

In hopes of avoiding another fire scream, Leo takes a deep breath and concedes. 

“I know.”  
“I’m sorry.” Frank says, glancing over at Leo. “And you know I couldn’t have told you about the super stuff anymore than you could have told me about yours.”

“I literally had no idea you were super.” Leo admits, with a laugh. “I was pretty tied up in my own stuff, and I just thought you were weird.”

Frank laughs too. “If it makes you feel any better, I couldn’t have been more clueless about yours. When Jason texted me about you, my eyes popped out of my head.”

“We’re actually so stupid.”

“Not that stupid, we did get into a pretty good college.”

Leo laughs. Genuinely laughs at something Frank said which weirds him out. He’s not giving into this friendship and forgiveness that easily. 

“Well _I_ got in fair and square.” Leo says. “Something about your admittance seems fishy..”

“Oh shut up.”

As he and Frank keep talking, Leo actually finds it...nice. It’s not awful talking to Frank, especially when he’s talking about super stuff. 

“Senior year,” Frank says, propping himself a little higher up on his pillow. “I would commute to the city every weekend to help with stuff.”

“So mathletes was complete bullshit?” Leo asks, remembering Frank’s excuse for being gone so often. 

“100%.”

“Shit.” Leo says, pulling the blanket up higher over his shoulders. “So, how did they find you?”

Frank rolls over in his bunk to look at Leo on the floor. “They were kind of waiting for me. My family is.. I don’t know, well known in the super community.”

“Oh yeah.” Leo recalls, “Didn’t you say you were on the team because of a family obligation? 

Frank nods, face turning a little more glum. 

What did you mean by that?”

Leo allows his mouth to ask questions, as his mind eats up the information. According to Leo’s superhero knowledge, family obligation is not a common cause of getting powers, and he wants to learn everything he can about it. 

“Like how do your powers work and everything?”

“You ask a lot of questions.” Frank says, flatly. 

“Sorry.” Leo says, though he’s really not. “So… how does it work?”

Frank sighs, realizing he’s not getting out of this conversation anytime soon. 

“Have you ever seen Black Panther?”

“Duh.”

“Well it’s kind of like that.” Frank explains. “In my family, when you turn 16, you become the new protector, whether you like it or not.”  
The way Frank says that extinguishes Leo’s fire, and makes him feel a little bit sick. Sure he hadn’t chosen his powers either, but the way Frank describes his makes it sound like he was literally forced on him. 

“Most people only have to do it for a couple years and the next person takes over, but I’m the youngest.” Frank says, and Leo can hear in his voice that he _hates_ this. “There’s no one left to pass it on to.”

“Which means you’re stuck with it indefinitely.” Leo says, finishing Frank’s unspoken thought. 

Frank nods, before turning over onto his back to stare up at the bottom of Leo’s mattress. “And believe me, it’s not like your fire or Jason’s strength, this isn’t a power you want to be stuck with.”

Leo opens his mouth to say something, but Frank cuts him off. 

“I think that’s enough questions for tonight.”

Leo bites his lip. 

“One more?”

“Fine.”

“Does Hazel know?”

“No. She doesn’t.” Frank says. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

*

Leo wakes up the next morning to his phone ringing. He flips it over with a groan, and is confused to find Frank's name lighting up his screen. 

"The fuck?"

"Just answer it. Sorry in advance."

Leo furrows his brows but doesn't ask anymore questions. He answers the call and is immediately overwhelmed by voices all talking over each other. 

"Did you add him?" Well that's Jason. 

"I added him."

"Hello?" Leo gets in before the voices start up again. 

"Hi Leo!"

"Why do we have to keep doing this stupid five way call, can't we get a group chat like normal people?" And there's Reaper. 

"We've talked about this! Group chats leave an evidential trail that we are super, so calls work better. Besides I bet the Avengers didn't have a groupchat."

"Oh cause we're _just_ like the Avengers."

"Can everyone stop trying to talk at once?"

Leo cannot for the life of him focus. All these voices are like his thoughts when he tries to get his brain to slow down but it's already running too fast. 

Finally, Piper cuts through the chatter. 

"Guys." she says, firmly. Voices stop immediately. "Our one rule is no fighting on the group call so can we all just relax?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Jason says, clearly apologizing on behalf of everyone. "Leo you there?"

"I'm here." he replies, finally able to join this conversation without going crazy. "What's up?"  
"Literally nothing." Reaper puts in. "It's just that everything with this group, even dividing up tasks, is a whole ordeal."

"Hey, we're just figuring stuff out." Jason says calmly. "So Leo, every week we assign super duties. Two of us handle defending the city, while two of us focus on the bigger situation going on with the Mayor." He pauses for a second, as if remembering there are now five members on the team. "Oh, I guess we can do three on case tracking now that we have you!"

He tries to sound cheerful, as per usual, but Leo can't help feeling a little tacked on in this moment. He also can't help the fact that neither of these duties sound all that appealing. Leo isn't feeling too hot about using his powers lately, and he knows tracking the case will force him to relive what happened that night, so he's a bit on edge about that. He decides to let everyone else choose what they want first, and take what's left. 

"I'll take tracking" says Reaper, no surprise there. 

"I'll be on defending" says Jason. No surprise there either. 

"I'll also take defending if that's cool." Frank throws in. Leo almost forgot he was on the call. 

"Perfect." Jason says. "So that leaves Piper and Leo on tracking as well."

"O-okay." Leo says. "But y'all are going to have to tell me what to do."

"Don't worry Leo, I'll help you." Piper says. 

And okay, Leo knows he probably shouldn't, but he can't stop the urge of wanting to troll the group call. He knows the answer is a thousand times no, and he might get a punch for it, but he can't stop himself from asking:

"What about a little help from my favorite Reaper?"

He expects an angry reply, a cussing out, but instead, he receives something else entirely. 

A voice comes onto the phone line that is not Reaper's. A _boy's_ voice. A strangely familiar boy's voice...

"Who are you talking to?" the guy asks curiously, getting uncomfortably close to the receiver. "Let me see!"

"No!" Okay that's Reaper, but then she does something that shakes Leo to his core. She giggles. Like straight up giggles. What is happening.

"Oh come on, is it a secret?" A rustle and a yelp later, his voice takes over the whole call. "Hellooooooo? Nice to meet you- wait, you're talking to four people at once?"

"Percy, give me my phone back or I will cut off your hand and let you bleed out."

And here’s the kicker, this “Percy” just laughs as if she didn’t just threaten to maim him. 

Reaper gets back on the line fairly soon after that, albeit out of breath. 

"Erase everything you just heard from your minds immediately."

"Who is Percy?"

"Piper, what did I just say?"

"Sorry!"

"Just to be clear. You all heard nothing. You remember nothing. And Leo of course I'm not helping you. I work alone. Fuck off."

And then the line goes dead. 

"Well, she's just as charming over the phone." Leo says, sarcasm evident in his tone. 

"Isn't she just?" Jason sounds a bit exasperated, but that's typical after dealing with Reaper. "Anyway Leo, we meet Sundays. Piper will be in touch but otherwise, that's all we have to talk about."

"Okay!" 

"See you guys on Sunday. Bye."

And just like that, the call ends. Leo hangs up his phone and tosses it aside. Frank does the same. 

Leo's brain is rattling around as it always does, but particularly on the fact that each time he forgets how disjointed this group is, it gets reaffirmed at every turn. They can barely even speak to each other. How on earth are they ever supposed to defeat the mayor and everything if they can't even handle being on the same call? He's not sure. What gets him even more is that the way they act around each other, is something Leo could spot a mile away. They're all in that defensive mode. "I can't be apart of a group, I can't let anyone really know me, because then I'll get left out again." Leo's been at that point a lot in his life, but somehow he's always made it back. As previously stated, Leo Valdez is nothing if not persistent. 

"Riddle me this, Zhang." Leo says to his roommate. "How hard would it be to get this group to get to know each other and actually work as a team?"

Frank sighs. "Virtually impossible."

Well lucky for them, that's Leo's favorite kind of problem to solve. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yahooo new chapter!  
> The coming chapters are going to delve a lot more into who all these super people are and the relationships with each other so that'll be super fun!  
> This fic is probably going to be a lot longer than I ever anticipated, which is usually the case, but its not my fault haha! I got too invested in the characters and the huge plot we got brewing.   
> But thanks to everyone who is reading and giving kudos and commenting its the best feeling in the world for me!   
> New chapter will be up within the week!


	9. We can’t come back here, so let’s make it count

Unfortunately, Leo’s immediate plans to get the group to bond in some breakfast club-ass way are dashed by a formidable enemy: reality. After being gone from classes for a whole week and fucking up his relationship with arguably his only real friend at college, Leo has a lot of shit on his plate to fix before he can even think about super stuff. He has pages and pages of assigned readings that he can’t even think about comprehending all of them, and he has to rebuild his engineering project that was crushed in his angry rage.

All of that though, can be fixed. Leo can remake that extended arm in a heartbeat. He can ask Jason to check in the library if they have the audio versions of his textbook available. What he might not be able to fix, is his relationship with Hazel. He dreads engineering class on Tuesday, absolutely dreads it. He’s more nervous than he cares to admit. Because this is his class with Hazel, who he blew up at when he was hurting and _still_ has a gigantic crush on no matter how many times he wants to pretend like he doesn’t. When he walks in and takes his seat beside her, she continues to stare forward, not acknowledging him.

“Listen, Hazel-”

“Class is about to start.” she says, shortly. “Can’t talk.”

Okay, more mad than he anticipated. He didn’t take Hazel as one to hold grudges, but he also knows she does not let people walk all over her. One of his favorite things about her is now the thing that’s working against him in this situation. 

Their professor begins the lecture, talking about the project that Leo finished the first week of school and crushed it into a pulp yesterday. Damnit. He _will_ fix that. But this thing with Hazel has to be fixed first. 

He rips a chunk of paper off of his notebook and scrawls on it. 

_I know ur mad at me but can we talk?_

He crumples it up and slides it over to her. She doesn’t read it, and promptly pushes it off the table and onto the floor. 

Okay. That didn’t work. New plan. Leo’s brain hums to life. If he doesn’t crumple it up, she can’t push it off the edge, and if he sets it on her notebook, she has to read it. 

So he does just that. 

_I’m sorry_

Hazel stares at it for a second and Leo thinks she might shred it to pieces, but instead, she clicks the end of her pen and replies. 

_And?_

And? Leo wasn’t prepared for an and. He pulls the paper back and hastily writes:

_And… I was and still am trying to cope with all this stuff with my mom and i’m sorry I took it out on you_

Hazel glances at it and sighs. 

_I’m not mad about that._

Leo furrows his brows. “Well then what the hell are you mad about?”  
She purses her lips, glancing at their professor to make sure he’s not noticing their lack of attention. Leo could care less. 

“Frank!” Hazel says, in an angry whisper. “You were a jerk to him and you pushed me away because I’m dating him. Nothing at all to do with your mom.”

“That’s not true.” Lie. It’s a huge lie. Everything was fine between them until he realized she was dating Frank. 

“It is true!” Hazel fights back. “I was there. I’m not stupid.”

“I know you’re not.”

“Leo-” she says, her voice wavering a bit. “You- you didn’t say anything to me. You never gave me any hint that you felt that way. How was I supposed to know you liked me?”

“I don’t like you!” is what blurts out of his mouth before he can stop himself. Leo knows this is a stupid stupid lie, but he would rather die than admit he likes Hazel to her face. Especially when she thinks being with Frank is a superior option.

“We’re just, you know, really good friends. And I love spending time with you, and I had a hard time thinking about splitting that time with Frank.”

And finally, finally, after one of the fakest lines Leo has ever let come out of his mouth, Hazel’s face softens. 

“I love spending time with you too.” she says. “You’re one of my best friends, Leo. And you know that me being with Frank doesn’t change anything with us.”

Except it does. Because now there’s no way I get the happy ending, Leo thinks. 

She sets her hand on his forearm, and Leo feels the warmth in his chest, the good kind. It’s good until it fades, and leaves Leo with the hollow feeling that even with Hazel wanting to be his friend again, he’ll always want more. He hates himself for that, but it’s true. 

“Yeah?” he asks, gently. 

She smiles. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry again.”

She nods. “I know you are. And I forgive you.”

*

Leo and Hazel make plans to see each other, without Frank. As much as it tugs his gut to spend time with her, he likes her as a friend too much to let the stupid feelings stuff get in the way. The majority of his week from then on is painstakingly.. Normal. Until it isn’t. 

Piper texts him on Thursday and brings his whole world of super stuff back into his life. 

**Piper**

_Hey, it’s me. Busy this afternoon? We have stuff to do._

He can tell by the vague nature of her texts that this is about their tracking assignment. 

**Leo**

_Completely free._

**Piper**

_Perfect. Meet me at the Psych building at 5._

Leo didn’t even realize there was a Psych building here. 

He agrees nonetheless. He thinks Piper will be the best person to start with to try and figure out this group. She seems the most open by far, and Leo hopes that spending time with her will maybe give him a first clue on how to help his new super companions actually get their shit together. 

With the help of a kind tour guide, he finds the building, and Piper herself, sitting out on a rock wearing a cute backwards baseball cap, a hoodie, and sunglasses. 

Leo waves to her, and she stands up, shoving her phone in her back pocket. 

“That’s what you’re wearing?” she asks once he’s within earshot. 

Leo glances down at his sweatshirt and jeans. 

“Was there a dress code?”

Piper rolls her eyes. “ _No,_ but we’re sleuthing, Leo! Trying our best to not get recognized”

Leo runs a hand through his curls.. “Well here’s the thing. I recently got a little upset and well, my disguise stuff may or may not have been collateral damage.”

“It’s fine.” she says. Their eyes meet, and Leo feels a genuine feeling of empathy from Piper wash over him. “Just-”

She zips up his sweatshirt and pulls that hat off her own head to set it neatly on Leo’s curls. 

She pulls her own hood up and clasps her hands together. “Good enough.”

Leo thinks that shitty disguises might just be the trademark of 20something heroes. 

He follows Piper to her car, which turns out to be a light blue jeep with surfboards in the back. 

“Really?” 

“What?” she asks. 

“You’re a surfer?”

She narrows her eyes. “And? What about it?”

Leo raises his hands in submission. “Nothing!” he says. “I just genuinely forget that you guys are not just superheroes you know. You do like, normal people things.”

She gives him a half smile. “Most of us, anyways.”

*

Leo learns quickly that Piper drives really fast. He learns this as they’re cruising down the highway, windows down, at 80 miles an hour. He’s not complaining, it’s just- unexpected. 

He didn’t think he was underestimating Piper based on his initial impression of her. He just thought she was the softer, emotional one in a group of hardened introverts. Turns out, she may have a little more edge to her than Leo originally thought.

When she finds her exit, she pulls really hard on the steering wheel and crosses five lanes to reach it, with ease. She then promptly pulls over beside a dog park. 

“This is where we’re snooping?” Leo asks, looking over at the park. “Are we picking up a bloodhound? I didn’t think you meant tracking literally.”

Piper swats him in the arm. “Obviously not. We just can’t go park right in front of Hera’s house with my easily recognizable vehicle.”

A surprise twinge of fear seeps into Leo’s mind at the mention of Hera, and the idea that he’s so close to her. He knows in his heart that she is the reason his mom is dead. He’s come to terms with that it wasn’t his fault, that if Hera’s men had never shown up there, he wouldn’t have used his powers, and she wouldn’t have died. And now, the idea that he is going to be so close to the woman who is directly responsible for the death of Leo’s only family, scares the absolute shit out of him. 

He hasn’t spent a lot of time thinking about it, as it was easier to repress all those feelings when he was getting back into his little college bubble, but this isn’t going away. And Leo had no choice but to face the person who scares him. 

As if sensing what he’s thinking, Piper speaks. 

“Hey,” she says, softly. “She’s not going to be there.”

Leo tries to play it off. “Oh? I don’t care. Doesn’t matter to me.”

Piper can tell he’s lying, but she doesn’t mention it. 

“Okay, well. I usually fly up whoever I’m with and we sit up on the building across the street and watch through the windows.”

Leo furrows his brows. “You just sit and peer in windows?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’ve been doing that for months?”

“Hey sometimes it delivers good information! This is how we found out that her guys do work for her way outside of her government reach like-”

“Like causing the crime in the city?”

She nods. 

Leo thinks about it for a second. “You’ve really never gone any closer?”

Piper bites down on her lip. “Jason wants all of us to be safe.” she says, firmly. “And don’t say anything about him being controlling or that he’s making us hold back. He’s smart. And he’s right, and he’s been doing this longer than any of us.”

Leo raises his hands in submission. “Wasn’t going to.”

“Good.” she says. “Now let’s go.”

*

After about twenty minutes of being perched on the roof of state farm insurance, Piper turns to Leo. 

“I think we should go inside.”

Leo, who was basically dozing off at this point snaps awake. “Really?”

“Yeah.” she says, staring straight at the house. “She’s not home and I’m sick of just waiting around here.”

She sets her hand on Leo’s. “You’re sick of it too, right?”

A weird feeling falls over Leo, and automatically, as if he’s in a trance, he replies:

“I’m sick of it too.”

A look of realization washes over Piper and she snatches her hand away and scoots back. 

She curses silently to herself, shoving her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. “I’m so sorry.”

Leo frowns. He never gets mad when Piper gives him feelings and stuff on accident. It’s so obvious she can’t control it, yet every time she does, it’s like she can’t help but get upset with herself. Jeez, these super kids are wired sad. Well, except Jason. That dude’s emotions only lie on the spectrum of preppy college tour guide and vaguely exasperated dad. 

“Seriously.” Leo says, “don’t worry about it Piper.”

She stays worried for a second, before she squares her shoulders and sets her eyes on her target. “Let’s do this.”

The reach the ground, and Piper easily leads them to the back of the house with a large gate surrounding the backyard. Piper hops the fence. Leo instead reaches over, unlocks the gate, and steps in. 

Piper rolls her eyes. 

“What? She’s at work isn’t she? No use giving the dramatics for no audience.”

Piper turns and heads towards the house, and Leo kind of lollygags along behind her, looking at the yard of this rich ass lady’s house. She’s got all these hedge statues, and a patio, and a babbling brook. Like an actual tiny waterfall. Leo’s only ever dreamed up this kind of mansion. It actually reminds him of this house he used to draw when he was younger, one he wanted for him and his mom to live in. He shakes that thought out of his head and jogs after Piper who is beelining towards the door on the right side of the house. 

“Hey,” Leo calls, glancing around to make sure no one is watching them. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“I’ve been staring at this house for months. I know it like the back of my hand.”

She slows a little, and links her arm with Leo’s, pulling him along with a smile. “Come on!”

She leads him to the door and squats down, before peering up through the window. “This door leads into the kitchen, and through there to the left is her office.” Piper tells him.”I think that’s our best bet for finding shit.”

“You have a key to this?”

Piper shakes her head. 

“What about the jewel?” he asks, tapping her forehead. “Can it magically unlock doors?”

“No.” she says, and then she stands up with a sly smile creeping onto her face. “But this can.”

And without any more prompting, Piper slams her side into the lock, and breaks the door in.

Now Leo liked Piper before, but now that he actually is getting to know her, and seeing what she can do, he thinks he might dedicate his life to worshipping her. 

Piper brushes he hands off and pushes the door in all the way, before looking back at Leo. 

“We can’t come back here, so let’s make it count.”

She runs inside and Leo can’t help but laugh as he follows her. They run into the office, a smaller room with a big oak desk and bookshelves lining the back side. They quickly start shuffling through the main door of the desk, and it honestly just looks like a lot of legal papers, so they keep digging. 

“Check for like… secret drawers and false bookcases, right?” Leo asks, “I don’t know what secret villains have!”

It’s after they’ve thoroughly roughed up the top two desk drawers that the alarm goes off. 

“Oh shit!”

“You didn’t expect this?” Leo asks, his heart racing. 

Piper laughs, shaking her hands out. “Not really! I’m running on pure adrenaline here.”

Somehow, Leo laughs too. “I’ll go disarm it, let’s just find stuff and get out of here.”

Leo runs back, bumping into a table on his way. He tries to catch it, but he ends up knocking over the ceramic peacock sitting on top and shattering it. 

“Ah!” he says, sidestepping over the shards. “Karma!”

He rushes to the kitchen where the alarm is blaring. He reaches up to it, pulls off the face and shuts his eyes. He clears his mind and lets his hands do the work as the pull wires and press buttons. In about seven seconds, the alarm shuts off. Unfortunately for them, Leo can already hear sirens in the distance. 

A few seconds later, Piper runs out of the office, wild eyed, and clutching a stack of folders in her arms. 

“Found stuff!”

“Secret drawer or false bookcase?”

“Secret drawer!”

Leo high fives her, and she glances around, still out of breath. 

“Did you break the peacock?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice.” she says, and high fives Leo right back. 

“We better fucking run.” Leo says, hearing the sirens drawing dangerously closer. 

“I agree.”

And in that moment, Leo takes it upon himself to link arms with Piper, and the two of them bolt out of there. Propelled by Leo’s enhanced speed, and Piper’s complete badassery, they make it back to the car. When they get inside, Leo’s body doesn’t feel on fire. It feels electric, like sparks of energy are running through him. He doesn’t know if it’s from doing something he’s not supposed to, or from doing something that’s helping people, but he feels alive. 

“We just broke the law.” he breathes, glancing over at Piper. 

She has the same tired grin on her face. “I know.”

“Have you ever done something like this before?”  
“Nope. Have you?”

She shakes her head. “But I think I could get used to it.”

Leo smiles at her, and glances back at the stack of files in the backseat. This was a success. A huge success for them as a team, but also for Leo in feeling like he now has Piper on his side. He would go as far as to say they’re friends. 

“Do you want to get fries or something and look at these files?” Leo asks, hopefully. 

Piper grins. “Hell. Yes.”

*  
Half an hour later, Leo and Piper are sprawled out on her floor with shakes, french fries, and the stack of folders between them. They don’t look like much from Leo’s first glance, just a stack of manila folders filled with paper, but Piper said she’s sure they’re secret. Real under the books stuff. 

They take a pause to eat a bit, and then each of them take a folder off the stack and open it up. 

“Patient A.” Leo reads. 

“I have Patient F.” Piper tells him. 

The file Leo is looking at describes a person. At least he’s pretty sure it’s about a person. 

“Patient A is of normal growth and brain development for his age, and presents as physically fit.”

Leo flips through a couple more of the pages. “The serum has taken well to the patient. He is stronger, faster, and more adept than the average human. Overall this appears very successful and superhuman qualities are only increasing. The only setback is that the patient’s powers tend to-”

“Patient F is not taking well to the serum.” Piper reads, cutting Leo off. “It seems to have altered her mind and body in a way that is more negative than positive.”

L furrows his brows and reaches for the next folder, and hurriedly flips it open to read:

“Patient Q, after going into shock as a result of the serum has been reported,” he looks up at Piper. “deceased.”

“What the fuck?”

Both stare at each other, trying to process what they’re reading, but they’re jolted apart as Piper’s phone rings. 

She flips it over, a little disoriented as a result of this new information, to show Jason’s name. She answers it and puts it on speakerphone. 

“Please tell me you and Leo have nothing to do with the police being dispatched to the mayor’s house tonight.”

Piper is quiet. Jason sighs.   
“That’s what I thought. Where are you right now?”

“My apartment.”

“We’re coming over.”

And then the line goes dead. Piper grabs her phone back looking upset, but Leo can’t tell if it’s from the disapproval from Jason, or the fact that they’ve found out the mayor is conducting, sometimes deadly, human experiments. He knows that he hasn’t really process this yet, so he’s sure Piper is running through all the same questions in her head. Why? And for what?

Very soon after the phone call, A tap comes at the window. Piper and Leo head over there, and Piper opens it up. Jason steps in, almost unrecognizable in his Metal Man costume. It gives Leo that same feeling he felt the first time he saw him, that he really _is_ a superhero. But then he pulls his goggles onto his head and showcases his exasperated dad face, and once again, he’s just Jason. 

Frank is nowhere to be seen. Well Leo thought, but then some scaled creature flies to the side of the fire escape, and a second later Frank steps through the window. Leo’s eyes widen. Frank is decked out in a costume covered in metallic scales. Logically Leo knows that there’s no way Frank was that thing that landed up there, but things haven’t really been turning out logically recently. 

“Dude, did you just-”  
“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You don’t want to talk about the fact that you can turn into a fucking-”

“Guys.” Jason says, expression still stoney. “Can we please focus on the reason me and Frank even have to be here right now?”

Jason immediately brushes past Leo to where Piper is. “What were you two thinking? Breaking into her house like that? Breaking the law?”

“Don’t be mad.” Piper says quickly.

“Yeah we got information!”

Jason promptly ignores Leo’s comment and slips his hand under Piper’s chin, glancing over her face. 

She flushes red. And oh shit, she likes him. She really does. Leo now knows his crime accomplice like the back of his hand, and Piper has a big stinking crush on Jason. He doesn’t know why he didn’t see it before. 

“I’m not mad.” Jason admits. “I was just worried. You’re okay though, right?”

“Hey! I was there too.” Leo says. Jason does not respond. Leo thinks that crush might be reciprocated. 

“I’m fine, Jason. I promise.” Piper assures him, settling her hands on his shoulders. The tension releases immediately.

“I’m fine too, thanks for asking.”

Frank rolls his eyes. 

All are pulled out of the moment by Reaper stepping through the window, a knife in her hand. 

“Just heard someone broke into the mayor’s house, please tell me we had something to do with that.”

Leo steps to the side to reveal the stack of folders on the ground. “Ta da!”

“Fuck yes!”

She flips her knife in the air and offers a biting smile, one that scares Leo a little bit. It looks wrong on her face. Maybe without the mask her smile is nice, but he can only see so much. 

She races toward the files, pushing Piper and Jason apart from each other in the process. She grabs a handful and makes a beeline to the backroom, but that rubs Leo the wrong way. 

“Not so fast.” he says. She stops and turns around. “Pretty sure this is something we all need to see.”

And without so much as a fight, she nods and comes back. They all sit in a circle, each take a file, and prepare to dive in. 

*

“Holy shit.” Frank says after scanning the pages, and holy shit is right. From knowing nothing for months to unearthing the fact the mayor has been using government money to try and make super people, constitutes a holy shit.

“We don’t have to holy shit.” Jason says, "we’re okay.”

“Only one of them seems to have been completely successful, and that was the first one.” Piper says, possibly trying to make the collective feel better. “Everyone since has varied from slightly off to..” She glances at Patient Q’s file, “really really off.”

“But we don’t know how or why they’re doing this or the people it’s happening to.” Frank puts in. 

“Mine talks about a machine?” Jason offers, pushing his glasses back up on his nose. “I think they’d put them in it to inject the serum stuff. I can’t be sure though, there’s a lot of stuff blacked out or missing.”

Leos’ ears perk up at the mention of a machine, and the hair on the back of his neck stands up. Because this is the first mention of anything in this super conspiracy that could make sense with his mom’s involvement. She lived for machines, knew everything about them inside and out. She could look at setup of a car and recreate it just by looking. A sharp fear digs its way into Leo’s brain. 

Did.. Did his mom build the machine that-

No. No, definitely not. She would never have become involved with something like this, he’s sure of that. But he still can’t ignore those nagging thoughts in his head begging him to find what all of this has to do with his mom and _why_ she had to die over it. 

Leo squeezes his eyes shut for a second before bringing himself back into the group conversation. It’s only then that he looks over to Reaper beside him and notices she has been dead silent, staring at one file the entire time. 

Leo peers over her shoulder and reads. 

_Patient K has taken to the serum well. Almost as well as our original subject. He shall be moved to security detail immediately. Thus far, he is the oldest patient taken at age 18. Odd though, the serum seems to have healed all ailments and abrasions aside from scar down his cheek._

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Leo says, nudging Reaper, whose gaze doesn’t waver. “That’s-that’s Hera’s henchman! It talks about the scar and everything which means that-”

“She’s taking kids, turning them super, and forcing them to join her army.” Reaper finishes, coldly.

“Wait this also proves that her super henchman are the one raising the crime rates in the city when they aren’t protecting her! That scar is evidence for everything. That’s why after every fight they can just come back once again with unlimited energy and weapons!”

“Hey, how many of these patients are there?” Frank asks, nervously. 

“We have Patients A-S.” Piper says. “So, 19.”

Jason looks worried for a second, before he fades back into his perpetually calm and confident demeanor. 

“Hey, it’s fine. Only one was really successful, right?” he says. “Well we’ve got five successful heroes right here.”

“Successful is a bit of a stretch.”

“No it’s not.” Jason insists. “Now. I think that what we’ve learned tonight is good. This is a lead. One we’ve been waiting for. I suggest that Frank and I return to the city to keep defending. Tracking team, regroup tomorrow and put your scent on those two that we for sure know are super, okay? Reaper I’d feel more comfortable with you working with these two.”

He motions to Leo and Piper, speaking gently. She doesn’t look up. “Do you think you could lead them on that trail? Try and figure out maybe what we’re really up against?”

Reaper lifts her head up and blinks a couple of times. 

“Uh sure. Yeah. Whatever.” 

She doesn’t fight Jason, she doesn’t demand to work alone, she just agrees and dips her head once again. Now Leo doesn’t need to be a Piper level empath to know that something about “Patient K” is messing her up. 

Jason and Frank stand up. Jason makes a point to walk over to Piper, squeeze her shoulder, say goodbye, all before following Frank out the window. As soon as they’re out of earshot, Leo turns his attention to Piper. 

“So, you and Jason, huh?”

She chokes on her drink. “What?”

“Wouldn’t have guessed it.” Leo continues. “You being a feelings a plenty mystical beach bum, and him being, well- a nerdy activist with no feelings. I guess people have become a thing under weirder circumstances.”

“What do you mean me and Jason?!” she splutters, face turning bright red. “That’s _not_ a thing!”

“But you want it to be?” Leo guesses, and her face flushes again. 

“That’s-that’s beside the point.” she says, crossing her arms. She holds it for a second, but her face quickly shifts to a softer expression. “It’s just- you know Jason. He’s hard to read and way too focused on the mission to ever know I like him.”

Leo’s ears warm at the admission. She trusts him enough to share this. 

“I think you’re giving him too much credit. He’s oblivious.”  
She shakes her head. “You’re not giving him enough credit.” she says, “They don’t call him impenetrable for nothing.”

They’re quiet for a second, as consoling anyone, especially girls, has never been Leo’s strong suit. He wants to say something to soothe Piper’s mind, but his own mind draws him back to the elephant in the room. The one still sitting between them with that file.

“Is she okay?” Leo asks, suddenly. “Cause I’m no feelings expert, but it seems like she’s not okay.”

Piper’s care of her own problems flies out the window as she takes in the appearance of the other girl. 

“Anna, what is it? Talk to me.” 

And Leo knows its bad because when Piper used Reaper’s real name, she said nothing. 

Piper sets her hand on top of Reaper’s and her face falls. Her shoulders slump and her eyes turn misty, taking on whatever Reaper is currently feeling. Leo sets his hand on Reaper’s shoulder, and she looks over at him, her big gray eyes rimmed red. 

“What is it?” he asks, softly. He can feel himself starting to get affected by the sadness in the room. “What is it about Patient K?”

Her bottom lip trembles. 

“He’s-”

She stops herself. She shakes her head, refusing to give up whatever she’s feeling. 

She doesn’t talk for a minute, but slowly she looks back up at Leo. 

“I’m just sad, they’re doing this to all those kids.” 

Leo wants to ask more, and he tries to, but too quickly, he’s overwhelmed by Piper’s empathetic emissions. He doesn’t remember anything about the case, or Reaper, all he knows is that he wants to make her feel better. Piper wraps her arms around Reaper in a hug. Leo does the same, unconsciously tapping _I love you_ on her back. 

She doesn’t push them away. 

*

When Leo leaves that night, he feels different. So many things have changed over the course of a few hours. The super people aren’t strangers anymore, so much as they are, friends. Friends he’s just scratching the surface of knowing, but they have trust between them nonetheless. They’re also not completely in the dark anymore. They actually know shit now, and that makes it all that much more real. As drained as he is from the day, his brain is working overtime as he contemplates Reaper’s emotional display he still doesn’t fully understand, his week’s worth of homework that is still unfinished, his mom might have something to do with that machine, and the realization that the only thing he ate for dinner was french fries. That’s fine though, right? Fries are made of a vegetable everyone knows that. As he sits down at his desk, attempting to rip through his math homework, he keeps thinking about Mayor Hera’s super people maker they’re using to carry out the experiments. Machines are supposed to be straightforward and logical.There’s no magic or subtext involved, that’s why Leo likes them, which is why the idea of a machine able to turn people super is almost too much for Leo to comprehend. 

_“Mijo, you know a hundred years ago people never would’ve thought machines could solve problems and learn like us,”_

_“_ I know but-”

Leo realizes he’s talking to himself, and shuts his mouth. That’s been happening lately. He’s sure it’s some kind of coping mechanism, his mind trying to convince him things are okay and she’s still here. Leo knows it’s probably not healthy, but it soothes him each time he gets a little whisper of his mom. 

He tries to think what she would say about this machine scenario. She’d hate it, he knows that. She’d think it was fucked up, and Leo does too. 

Why can’t they just find kids who got powers the old fashioned way, you know? Fall into toxic waste, get bitten by a spider, or in Leo’s case, snort some fire rock. 

Leo’s math homework starts to fade back into irrelevance as he thinks about his new super friends. How did they all get their powers? Well, he knows about Frank, but not the others. He makes a mental note to ask. Hopefully they’ll have time to get into that before they’re balls deep in this experiment and super henchman business, and Leo actually has to start paying attention to his homework to pass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has got to be my favorite chapter so far!!   
> Like I finally feel like I'm really understanding what I want from each of the characters and their relationships and its just making me feel so excited and happy to keep writing UGH!!  
> This whole super genre is still really new to me so I appreciate everyone sticking with me, reading, and leaving kudos and comments!!  
> New chapter will hopefully be up soon! Thanks!!


	10. He asked to be included though, so it’s kind of his fault

“Have you ever listened to this?” Hazel asks, moving past Leo into his room. 

“Hello to you too.” he says.

“Sorry for just showing up.” she says. “You didn’t answer my text.”

“The text you sent three minutes ago?”

“Yeah!” she says, coming back to the door and slipping her hand around his wrist. His skin lights up as she tugs him over sit on the floor with her. Leo’s been halfheartedly trying to get over his crush, but it’s not been high on the priority list. 

“Answer my question!” she says, shoving her phone into his face. He grabs it and squints at what’s pulled up on her phone. It’s the latest episode of his super podcast. 

Leo dwells for a second that the girl of his dreams who he’s supposed to not like is now listening to the same stupid conspiracy theory podcast he listens to, but he knows that this has the potential to go in a very bad direction.

“Uh,” he clears his throat. “Yeah, I have.”

“Well I just started listening to it recently because-” her face turns bashful. “Don’t tell anyone but I actually ran into one of the heroes.”

That’s when Leo starts to sweat. 

“You don’t say!” he says, voice getting a little higher than normal. He leans on his palm, hoping that’s enough to keep fire from lighting up in his palms. 

Hazel nods. “And obviously I hate the fact that I had to get saved by a man, because that obviously goes against, like, everything I believe in but.. I don’t know! He was just- amazing.”

Leo’s heart flutters. Fuck him. Hazel shakes her head and gives a little laugh. 

“I probably sound so stupid right now.”

“It’s not stupid.” he manages. “Super people are.. hard to resist.”

“Well anyways,” Hazel says, “I started listening to hear about him but I want _you_ to listen to the newest episode. I already made Jason listen to it but it just made him nervous. I think you’ll react better.”

She sticks a headphone in her ear and pulls the other one over to slip it into Leo’s ear. She does so and ruffles his hair a bit, forcing blood to rush to his cheeks just as Frank returns from class. 

“Oh Frank! Come over here too!” 

The second she sees Frank, she rips the headphone out of Leo’s ear, erasing all the gentle movements she utilized putting it in. 

“Welcome back Frank.” Leo says, widening his eyes to try and convey that Hazel is dangerously on their trail about super shit. Unfortunately his eyes can only convey about two emotions accurately and that’s crazy and crazier, so Frank just gives him a funny look. 

“Uh thanks?”

God he’s so clueless. 

Frank sits down beside Hazel and gives her a kiss. Leo frowns and glances the other way. He thought he may have magically emotionally matured over the last three days, but that was wishful thinking. 

Hazel sets her phone in between them and presses play. 

“Welcome back Super lovers. We are here today not to talk about the supers themselves, but about our more niche focus on this podcast. This is the self indulgent segment known as “Socal ‘Spiracies,” or the part of the podcast where I make outrageously speculative comments about how our city is one big fucking conspiracy.” The host laughs, and Frank looks up at Leo with realization that yeah. They actually might be fucked. 

“Our newest piece of information is that yesterday, Mayor Hera’s house was broken into. And I know what you’re thinking because I thought it too, she’s a shitty ass mayor and she deserves it, which is true. But, this wasn’t a run of the mill robbery. Apparently, these delinquents or heroes, depending how you look at it, knew exactly what they were looking for. They went directly for her desk and stole like 20 classified documents.”

Leo’s heart is now beating about a hundred miles an hour. He squeezes his fists a little tighter as the nerves start to manifest at his palms. It’s at this point Hazel's pauses it, looking up to see Leo and Frank both sweating like they just took a lap around the Sahara. 

Frank clears his throat, and sets a hand on Hazel’s knee. “So, what’s your point, Hazel?”

“My point Frank, is that someone stole possibly incriminating files about the Mayor. This guy thinks it has like, career ending stuff in it, and that could be grounds for impeachment! The protesting hasn’t been working, but this made me think that if we keep protesting, _and_ find some dirt on her, we could take her down once and for all!. I just have to do some digging.”  
“Digging how?” Frank asks, nervously. 

“I don’t know. Public records, jail system, tracking down the guys who broke in….”

“No!” Frank says, firmly. “No, no no. Absolutely not. Hazel you can’t do half that stuff! It’s dangerous.”

“Well what if I promise to stay safe?” Hazel asks, a smile teasing on her lips. She turns to Leo. 

“What’s your take on the situation?”

No. Hazel snooping this close to their super stuff is dangerous. Her being on her own searching for stuff is dangerous. All over this is a horrible idea. But… Leo doesn’t know if he’s capable of passing up the opportunity to get on Hazel’s good side when Frank isn’t. He’s a petty dick for it, but he tells her:

“I mean, if you’re being safe…”

“Yes! Ha ha!.” she reaches over and grabs Leo’s hand, pulling it to her mouth to plant a kiss on his knuckles. His face turns a deeper shade of red, while Frank’s turns a sickly shade of green. 

“Besides.” she says, hopping to her feet. “I have a superhero on my side who can protect me from danger.”

Frank furrows his brows. “Wait what?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Hazel asks with a smile. “I’m on great terms with the fire boy.”

And with one last kiss to Frank’s lips, she turns on her heels and skips out. 

“Can you _please_ stop actively trying to steal my girlfriend?” Frank sighs. 

“Hey,” Leo says, standing up as well. “It’s not my fault she likes me better. After all, _I’m_ her favorite superhero.”

*

Although Leo’s conversation with Hazel ended on an okay note, he can’t deny that he’s worried about the whole her catching onto them being super thing. She’s not stupid. She’s the opposite really, smart as any of them, and he doesn’t want her finding out, or worse, putting herself in danger because of what she knows. 

**Leo**

_Quick question. Are we worried about the Hazel situation?_

**Jason**

_You mean the fact you like her and Frank is dating her?_

**Leo**

_NO. And I don’t like her okay, get your facts straight._

**Leo**

_I’m talking about her sudden interest in a certain podcast that may or may not affect us in a negative way._

Jeez, Leo is tired of texting like this. He’s sure the NSA agent reading all his texts is rolling his eyes at how suspicious and stupid this looks. 

**Jason**

_Don’t worry about it. She can do her thing and we just have to make sure she doesn’t go too deep. You can focus on that until our blonde friend texts you about your next job. Until then, take it easy!_

Leo tosses his phone aside. “Take it easy.” What a phrase. Leo hasn’t taken it easy one day in his life. He thinks Jason means to just focus on school stuff and normal college kid stuff, so he tries that. It works for a couple of hours, and he actually gets around to fixing his extended arm which is nice. He’s mad at himself for crushing something he made in the first place, but he feels a lot better having it back. He also manages to salvage the ear piece, but it really only gets him Radio Disney, and the occasional static-y police call. 

The taking it easy mantra works enough for Leo to actually be on top of his homework for once, but it unfortunately doesn't make it through the day.

It all comes crashing down when his phone starts to ring. And Frank’s does too. 

Leo glances back at Frank who furrows his brows. Both of them answer. 

“I need everyone at Piper’s by 7.”

“Wait all of us?” Frank asks. “Like me and Jason too?”  
“Yes Frank! When I say everyone, I mean everyone!”

“What is this about?” Jason asks. “Can you put us in the loop at least?”

“No. Not on here. Just know it’s really serious. You’re all going to need all of your stuff and I’ll explain when you get here.”

The line goes dead. Leo stays on the line, hoping some of the others could offer an explanation, but they’re just as confused as he is. 

When Leo hangs up, he’s buzzing. It feels like everything underneath his skin is vibrating, humming to life like a machine. He thought it was excitement at first, maybe just a regular bout of flames, but he’s since realized, it’s nerves. 

He’d never admit it out loud, as his funny guy persona doesn’t leave much room for other feelings, but he’s scared. Reaper’s focus is, and always has been Hera’s henchmen, specifically Scarface or Patient K or whatever, and he has no doubt that tonight he’s going to have to face them again. He tells himself that logically everything’ll be fine, but his brain isn’t enough to convince himself. So, he pulls out a notebook, and starts to scribble down a list. 

“Did you not hear the call? We have to get going. Stop doodling.”

Leo groans. “Frank, get your own shit together, I’ll worry about mine.”

_Leo’s lists of positives_

  * __Extended arm machine is back in business__


  * _Jason, Piper, Frank_


  * _Reaper gets her only line on positive because that chick is terrifying, and Leo is glad that she’s on their side. Also that she trusts them enough to let them help._


  * _Jason will probably buy him dinner tonight so he doesn’t have to worry about getting anything_



He hesitates a second, before adding. 

  * __My fire.__



His brain is quickly wrought with images flames and fire from that night in the garage. He shoves the notebook aside and stands up, shaking out his thoughts. His mom used to tell him to that whenever he got overwhelmed by what was going on in his brain. It clears his head the slightest bit, and he heads to get ready, as Frank had been doing for the past five minutes. As Leo rips through the bottom drawer of his dresser, he glances over at Frank, changing in the corner, and something catches his eye.

Frank's neck. His bare neck, which Leo hadn't seen since the turtlenecks came and invaded his whole wardrobe. But the skin isn't the thing Leo finds himself staring at, it's the deep green scales that appear to be sprouting from there. He stares dumbfounded, wondering if his eyes, or the angle are playing tricks on him. But then Frank is quickly pulling his suit on over, and the skin and the scales disappear. Leo turns back and rummages through his sock drawer, pulling out the mediocre costume he has collected for himself. 

It consists of his extendo arm, a red beanie, a reddish-orange coat he got from goodwill, and an orange mask that came from the spirit section of their school store. His mask and coat also have flames on the side because hey, he had extra time yesterday and thought that if his costume continues to look like trash, it might as well be cohesive trash. He also slips on some combat boots because the rest of the group seems pretty fond of them, before turning to Frank. 

“Are we taking my car?” Frank asks. Leo is taken aback for a second, because seeing Frank all in his costume gives him the same feeling he had when he saw Jason all dressed up. That there’s a real superhero in the room with him, but that ends when Frank really takes in his costume and laughs. 

“You look ridiculous.”

“Sorry not all of us inherited costumes and shit with our powers!” Leo grumbles. “I’m a broke college student, I didn’t anticipate the secondary expenses of super gear.”

“Sorry sorry.” Frank says. “So, my car?”

Leo nods, glancing at the time on his phone. “She wants us there by 7, so we have to go.”  
*

At 7:00 on the dot that Saturday night, Leo steps through the window after Frank and is immediately in awe of the people in front of him. He knows he’s seen all of them in supergear at one time or another, but it’s different when they’re all together. 

They emanate a certain power, that makes Leo feel like a complete idiot in their presence. 

His eyes scan over Jason first, who looks exactly like the superheroes Leo spent his whole childhood reading about. A metallic gray-blue suit with black harnesses but no weapons. Probably because he’s always been more about the protecting. Steampunk-esque goggles and thick gloves complete his costume, and Leo offhandedly wonders if the goggles are to cover his identity, or if they actually act as the super counterpart to his everyday glasses. 

Then he sees Piper, the pink jewel sat in her forehead on full display. She’s floating gently above the ground, her dark pink jumpsuit flaring down over her feet, and her white cape behind her. She makes eye contact with him, and he feels her power.

And then there’s Reaper. Leo pauses before focusing on her costume to check out her eyes. It’s hard to see, as her face is and always has been concealed by her mask each time he’s seen her, but he still looks anyways. She looks fine, no trace of that emotional shock she was in earlier that week, which makes Leo feel better. She looks as she usually does, as Reaper is only ever in her combat wear, but now there’s the addition of weapons. Her knife at her hip, a literal bow and arrow across her back, and god knows what else in those pockets. 

Leo doesn’t dwell on Frank’s, but he’s gotta admit dude looks intimidating as fuck in his fully metaled green scales, even if his outfit does have a turtleneck. And for that split second, Leo forget that they’re a dysfunctional group of teenagers and twenty somethings. They really look like heroes. 

“Oh, you’re all here.” Reaper says, cutting off Leo’s staring and breaking the silence in the room. 

Leo furrows his brows. “You told us to be here at 7.” he says. “Am I crazy? We all just got that call, right?”

She rolls her eyes. “No, I called you all, I just didn’t expect everyone to actually be here on time. I anticipated work or sheer idiocy,” she says, glancing over at Leo, which he doesn’t care for at all, “getting in the way. That’s why I left a gap between us meeting and when everything is going down.”

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a deal going down tonight.” Reaper says. “And I didn’t think we would be so efficient in getting our shit together so we have time before that happens.”

“How much time?”

“Give or take…. two hours.”

“Two _hours_?”

For two seconds, Jason falls silent and looks like his head is going to explode. And for those two seconds, Leo thinks he might actually let it happen, but then he calms himself with a deep breath. Part of Leo wishes Jason would just lose control and go sick mode, but he knows that’s never going to happen. 

“It’s fine.” Jason says finally. “Better than fine. Now we just have more time to prepare!”

“And get to know each other?” Leo suggests before he can overthink it. He doesn’t know what comes over him. It must be Jason’s tour guide energy rubbing off on him. Or he’s subconsciously acting on his personal promise to bring the group together. 

“What?”

Leo shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like that before going to fight our mortal enemies, we might want to know something about each other. “

“He’s got a point.” Frank says. 

“A good one.” Piper adds on, stepping back onto the ground and giving Leo a smile. 

“Well we have shit to talk about before we start braiding each others hair and making friendship bracelets so can I run through this?” Reaper asks.

She looks to Jason, who is a little surprised that she’s silently asking his permission to take over. He hesitates in giving up the control, but eventually he gives a nod. 

Reaper gives him a nod in return and Leo is surprised too. That was the most civil interaction he’s ever seen them have. Things are already getting better. 

Everyone settles on Piper’s big comfy couch and Reaper sits on the floor, tugging her backpack over and digging through it. She pulls out all the files, cell phone records, and what looks to be a building layout with marks all over it. 

“So this is all the stuff I’ve been collecting over the past month.”

“You’ve been collecting?” Piper asks pointedly.

Reaper concedes. “All the stuff _we’ve_ been collecting.” she says, correcting her earlier statement. “And I’ve been following the henchmen for.. Well a really long time now and I’ve finally hit something. Based on the phones I chipped-”

Leo’s ear perk up. “Wait you chipped their phones? How? What did you use?”

“Leo it’s not tech talk right now.” Jason says firmly. 

“Right. Sorry. ” Leo says, letting that momentary excitement, that point of connection with Reaper, fade. “Continue.”

She tilts her head, cracking her neck, before continuing. “Yes I chipped their phones and for so long I’ve heard them talking about an elusive deal, and a machine part or something like that and it made no sense _until_ we got those files and it makes me think it’s a part of the machine.”

“Really?”

She nods. “I think they haven’t been able to make super people for at least six months, and tonight they might be getting it back.”

Leo’s heart beats a little harder against his chest. “That's not good."

"No. It's not."

Reaper continues to outline the happenings. Apparently the dealer is some kind of anonymous businessman, and they’re meeting him at 9 in this old abandoned warehouse downtown. Reaper pulls the building layout closer. Leo can see stairs and windows in the drawing, with the additions of different boxes, barrels, and possible exits and hiding places as added in by Reaper. Leo also realizes, as she explains her plan further, that the tiny squares behind said dots and such, are them. She has an entire attack plan laid out. 

“So, behind Hera’s guys will be me and Jason. We’ll be in place to go for them when the dealer comes out and we can take them on because they’re super.” she says, pointing behind the larger boxes. “And Piper and Frank will take the side by the dealer. Frank has the force to take on however many security there is, and Piper can use her talk to get the dealer to hand over whatever they're trading.”

Leo glances around for his name. “And what am I?” he asks, giving a laugh at the absurd thought. “The lookout?”

Reaper studies him silently. The silence stretches too long and realization hits Leo.

“Are you kidding me?? Why am I the fucking lookout?”  
Leo glances around the circle. Everyone is avoiding eye contact with him, and he suddenly feels so small. He feels the thought that he was a part of the group creeping out of his mind. 

Reaper sighs and looks up at him. “It’s not because I don’t trust you, or I think you’ll mess things up.” she says, eyes boring into his. “It’s because I don’t think you’re ready yet.”

“What do you mean I’m not ready?” he asks, getting a little angry at her. “I’ve fought these guys as many times as you have. I helped steal the files from the mayor’s house, I-”

“And when was the last time you used your fire?” she asks, and Leo’s face droops. “I’m not saying you’re not ready physically. I just think that ever since your mom died, you’ve been scared to use your powers, and I can’t risk you freezing in the moment and fucking this up.”

Leo deflates at her words.

He didn’t think anyone noticed. He pretended he wasn’t doing it, but the fact is he hasn’t intentionally used his powers since the night his mom died. And he hasn’t had any inkling of wanting to use them either. It’s not to say that he couldn’t, he thinks he can still do it, but he hasn’t had the heart or the courage to try.

“Okay.” he says, weakly. 

He can see the sympathetic looks on Piper and Frank’s faces and he hates it. He genuinely hates nothing more than being pitied by people. 

“Hey, lookout is really important.” Jason says, with not even a trace of sarcasm in his tone. “They didn’t have a lookout when JFK was in that parade, and look what happened to him.”

Leo can’t help but snort at Jason’s comment, but he’s still feeling a little bad and Jason can tell. 

So, Jason reaches over and pats Leo on the shoulder. “If things get rough.” he says, just so Leo can hear. “You jump in, okay?”

Leo kind of wishes he had as much blind faith in himself as Jason does. Jason looks at him with that intense gaze, and Leo agrees.

“Yeah. Okay. Yeah.”

Reaper goes over a few more logistics, how they’re getting there, etc. and then she says that’s it. That’s all they know and that’s what they’re getting into. 

“So,” she says, her gray eyes steely with determination. “Are we ready to fucking do this?”

*

They all agree, but it’s anticlimactic. Leo tries the fist thing again and that doesn’t pan out so he labels it a work in progress. Once they agree, there’s still over an hour before they have to even think about heading to the warehouse. So, Leo, with Piper’s help obviously, takes it upon himself to try and get the group to get to know each other. 

“And this is a group thing, okay?" Leo says. "I don’t know anything about people so I refuse to lead this like a weird camp counselor. Everyone can ask everyone questions." 

“Why is this like a group first date?”

“Because it basically is.” Piper says. “We don’t even know each other’s last names; we have to start somewhere.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll go first.” Leo says, the question he had earlier in the week bubbling into his brain. “I want to know how everyone got their powers.”

“Easy.” Reaper says, laying back on the pillow Piper set out for her. “Don’t have any.”

“Where’d you learn to fight, then?” 

Reaper twirls her knife around in her fingers, like she’s contemplating if they’ve unlocked that level of friendship yet. 

“My uh, my friend and I trained together.” she says, her voice getting quieter. “Lots of youtube videos and absent parental figures.”

That intrigues Leo.

“Why did you start training? Like what for?”

“And sharing time is over for me.” she says, fist gripping her knife. “Thanks for playing.”

Okay. And that was too far for Reaper. Noted.

Piper picks up on the awkward air, and clears her throat. 

“I got mine when I was 12.” she says. 

Piper goes on to describe how a woman started showing up everywhere to her, as her teacher, a cashier, a neighbor, etc. She didn’t notice at first but then she finally caught on to the lady watching her. One day, the woman introduced herself and explained that she was a part of an inter planetary alliance of protectors, whose job it is to help protect the emotions and wellbeing of the people on every planet.

“Obviously that was really confusing to me at 12, and I just thought she was a really strange and determined kidnapper.” Piper says with a laugh. “But she showed me the jewel and everything, and told me why she had been watching me. She said I had a pure heart, and that as the last protector of earth had passed on, they were looking for a new one.”

“And they wanted you?” Leo asks. That surprises the shit out of him. “Like they offered it to you?”

She nods. “And clearly,” she says, motioning to herself, “I said yes.”

“Do you regret it?” Frank asks suddenly. 

Piper thinks about that question for awhile. “Sometimes.” she says, finally. “I didn’t really think of the impact when I said yes. But I- I like it. It makes me feel more confident. And I like helping people, so for the most part, no. I don’t regret it.”

Frank nods slowly. Leo can tell he’s thinking about what his life would’ve been like if he was offered a choice. Leo can’t deny he’s thinking the same thing. 

“Well you guys know mine.” Frank says, as he’s next in the circle. “The Zhang family coming of age ceremony.”

“And I snorted a crushed up rock at a party.”

The circle immediately bursts out laughing at Leo’s admission, sans Jason, who knew the story beforehand. 

“You’re kidding!” Piper says in between laughs. “That’s so fucking dumb, Leo.”

“That’s a joke. You have to be joking.” Reaper laughs her head off. Leo’s still getting used to that sound, but it’s kind of nice actually. She rolls over and sets a hand on Piper’s arm, laughing along with her. 

“Alright enough enough.” Leo says, never too fond of others laughing at his expense. “I’m passing the torch to Jason.”

He passes an invisible torch, and Jason meets him halfway, grabbing the air and pulling it to him. 

“I bet Jason has a stupid story too. What’d you do, get hit by a car and metal went into your bloodstream or something?”

“I was born with mine.” he says, nonchalantly. 

“I didn’t know that.” Piper says. “Were you parents super or anything?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. My mom is just a regular person."

"And your dad?"

Jason's eyes become distant for a second. "Uh, no. nope. he's- he's just normal."

“That’s weird.” Leo says. He didn’t really mean to say it out loud, but he did. 

“Kind of.” Jason agrees. “But I always thought I was picked for a reason, you know? Like I’ve always been destined to help people. Why else would I have had powers for as long as I can remember?”

He’s got a point. For Leo, there was obviously no higher calling involved with him getting his powers, but Jason is like the chosen one or some shit. He’s probably the Harry Potter of their story. Leo’s more like the Ron. Which he doesn’t mind, honestly, Ron is pretty cool. But he isn’t Harry Potter. 

After those admissions, they all move a little cautiously into continuing the whole getting to know each other thing, but before long everyone comes around to throwing out questions, super-related or not.

“Piper, what’s your last name?”

“Did any of you make your costumes or did you just magically get them?”

“Have you ever tried fencing, cause I think you’d be really good at it?”

“What’s your major?”  
“Wait you like horror movies? Have you seen the new IT movie?”  
An hour later, Leo could actually consider the people in this room, friends. He knows things now. Not deep personal traumatic type things, but fun new friend things. Jason loves brownies. Piper wanted to be a veterinarian when she was younger, Frank is the tallest in his family, and heck, even Reaper coughed up that she wants to design an entire city that uses only renewable resources for power. 

“Guys, we breakfast clubbed the shit out of this!” Leo says with a grin. “Jason’s the athlete, Frank’s the brain, Reaper’s the criminal, obviously, Piper is the basket case, and I’m the Princess.”

“I’ll take it.” Frank says with a shrug. 

“Yeah, I’m good with that.” Piper agrees. 

“It’s fitting.” Reaper admits. 

Leo grins. “Guys we’re friends.” he says, cheesily. 

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Oh come on Reaper. We’re getting there.” 

She rolls her eyes, but Leo can tell that she knows they’re getting there too. 

*

By 8:30, they’re at the warehouse and in position. For everyone else that means scouting out the area, amongst the cobwebs and crates full of god knows what. For Leo, that’s sitting on the roof being _lookout._ He sits up over the skylight and glances down at the city below. The street has almost no foot traffic. It’s weird, because it’s Saturday night, but also not. Because they're currently in the sketchiest part of town, and the only people who come here on purpose are evil super dealers and well, Leo and crew. 

He’s done nothing thus far as lookout, but he reminds himself this is an important job. Jason trusts him, and Leo clearly has to have a level of awesomeness and great eyesight for this kind of job, so that keeps his attitude up. He’s part of the team, he just has to work on a different part from everyone else to make it work. 

He glances down at his hands briefly. They’re covered in lines and calluses. He stares for a second, before taking a deep breath and shutting his eyes. He concentrates hard, trying to get something to happen, but the second he feels heat at his palms, he starts to sweat, and he feels his chest getting tight, cutting off his airflow. His eyes rip open as he splutters for air, shoving his closed fists into the pockets of his coat. Fuck. that. 

“Hey? Everything alright up there?”

Leo glances down through the skylight at Jason, staring up at him. He looks about as concerned as Jason’s perpetually neutral face can get. 

“Fine.” Leo manages, clearing his throat. He glances at his phone to see that 9:00 is about ten minutes out. “It’s getting close. You all need to get in position.”

Jason simply nods, and relays the message to the rest. That’s when the chattering ceases, and Leo stares back over the edge of the building. Nothing happens at first. He’s worried if this whole thing Reaper thought was going to happen isn’t actually happening. 

But then he sees them. 

It’s unmistakable, the way his body reacts when he sees them. He feels frozen. Like he no longer has control of what his body is doing. 

“I- I see them.” he manages, clinging onto the fact that he has four almost friends down there with him. “They’re in the street about half a block away.”

They glance over toward the building, and Leo instinctively flattens himself against the roof, trying to steady his breathing. 

It’s dead silent in the warehouse, until the creaking of floorboards and the sound of voices begin to float up the stairs.

“Say it to me again.” 

Leo’s chest aches at that familiar gruff voice. Scarface. Patient K. Whatever his fucking name is. 

“I have the money.” The second voice says, also familiar to Leo, but it doesn’t carry near as much pain as the other does. “He comes in with three security. He stands to the back, as do you, and I meet in the middle with the security to make the trade. We trade at the same time. He leaves first. Then us.”

“Good.” Scarface says. “This has to go well. If we fuck this up, our plan for election night is ruined, you got that?”

Election night. That’s about a month away. Leo locks that date in his brain.

“I understand.”

Feet start to tap. They’re getting impatient as the time draws closer to 9:00. 

Leo spares a glance up over the side of the building, but sees no one. Whoever this elusive dealer is, he either isn’t fond of showing up on time, or isn’t coming in the way they came. What other way is there?”

Leo’s internal question is answered as he hears footsteps up the back stairwell. Leo vaguely remembers it from Reaper’s drawing, although she said it was pretty much rubble at this point. 

That evidently doesn’t bother them. 

Leo tilts his head and glances down the skylight at an angle. He sees three shadowed figures appear, and behind them, a larger shadowed figure. Leo wants to make out their features, but it’s too dangerous for him to take a closer look. Which is kind of ironic because looking is basically all he’s supposed to do. 

“Good evening gentlemen.” New voice. The dealer? No, his security. “I trust you’ve brought the money.”

“And we trust you’ve brought what we asked for.” Scarface answers.

The new voice chuckles. “Of course. Anything for an old friend.”

The security steps forward with a metallic briefcase. Henchman #2 steps forward with a bag. 

“Open the bag.”

“Open the briefcase.”

Both stand below Leo’s window in a standoff. Then, the security sighs, before reaching for the hinges of the briefcase. He opens it only for a second, and Leo can see inside. It’s a machine piece. He memorizes the size and the wiring of the weird glowing coil that looks exactly like it invents superheroes. Like Leo is sure that was a part of the machine that made Steve Rogers into Captain America. 

Scarface and the other open their bag as well, revealing as expected, a huge pile of money. Where did they get that? Probably from refusing to offer a livable minimum wage in the city. 

Leo shakes his head out. He knows he can’t focus on all the hows and whys right now even though that’s all he wants. He has to focus on the whole stopping them thing first before he gets to understand all the inner workings of the villain stuff. Hopefully there’ll be a good villain monologue in the future that clears up all the- oh shit, they’re fighting. 

Leo missed the whole beginning where they were about to trade and his friends all jumped in, but when he looks back down, there they all, blurs of multicolor. 

For a second, it seems like they’re winning. And then that all goes downhill. The first security is entranced by Piper’s voice and tries to pass the briefcase to her, but the dealer hurries forward and snatches the briefcase with the glowing shit in it and absolutely bolts. He moves really freaking fast for being an older guy, and before Leo knows it, he and one of the security are gone. 

“GO AFTER THEM.” Jason instructs to Frank, who nods and runs down the flight of stairs after them. At that point, Jason is trying to fend off Hera’s second henchman with the eyepatch as well as keep track of the two security still in a daze under Piper’s commands. 

Leo feels nerves building up inside him, and he can see by the way Jason keeps checking out the window that he wants to go after Frank and those dealers. He wants to, but he won’t let himself leave for fear of things getting even more out of control in his absence. Leo is feeling anxious as all hell, but he can hear Jason's request from him. If things get rough, Leo should jump in. And things are rough. So, despite the fact that the guys who were there the night his mom died are down there, Leo decides he needs to help his friends. He stands up on the roof, takes a deep breath, and drops himself into the room. 

Heads turn, and Leo quickly runs over to where Jason is, pulling Eyepatch towards him, and socking him in the face. It hurt like shit, but gave him a strange feeling of closure. Leo winces, and looks back at Jason. 

Finding his voice, he tells him: “Go. I’ve got it."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

Jason sets his hand on his shoulder and gives him a nod before grabbing Piper’s hand, pulling her out the window, and soaring out into the night. 

Okay Leo wasn’t expecting Jason to trust him _that_ much. Cause now it’s just him and Reaper, and she’s fully preoccupied, so Leo has just received custody of three evil villains. Fuck. He asked to be included though, so it’s kind of his fault. He shoves fear to the backburner and dives headfirst into the fight. He extendo arms one of the security, grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him to the ground. He smacks his head into one of the barrels and crumples with a heavy thud. That gives Leo a hit of confidence. 

“Okay, he’s taken care of.” Leo says aloud, focusing back on Eyepatch who is now bleeding from the nose and coming back with a vengeance. Leo's chest tightens, but he stares him down. 

“Long time no see.” Eyepatch snarls. 

Leo feels fire itching at his arms as he catches the Eyepatch’s fist hurtling toward him. 

“Eat shit.”

Leo grabs both his wrists and throws him back against the wall with his whole body force. Leo can’t help but think this would be another time super strength would really help him out. He spares a glance back to see that the other security has disappeared. He curses, but knows that isn't the focus right now. 

“Hey, get out of here.” Scarface barks to Eyepatch. “Take the money and go, I can handle this.”

Before Leo has the chance to chase after him, Eyepatch fumbles around with the bag, and flips Leo off before running away. 

“Oh really mature.”

After letting two guys get away, Leo is feeling overwhelmed that his getting back into super stuff is not going well. So, he takes it upon himself to pull up a barrel and start using his extended arm to tie up the security guy he K.O’ed earlier in the fight. Because if Leo needs something to show for the fight, he thinks that getting the close security of some guy with a magical glowing coil is a pretty good start. 

As he starts knotting the stretched metal and rope, he tunes into Reaper and Scarface’s fight, which is still in full swing. 

Leo is in awe watching Reaper fight Scarface. He’s super, she’s not, and yet they are so evenly matched it’s insane.

“You must be getting tired.” Scarface says, his gun meeting her knife with a clang.

“You wish.”

It’s evenly matched until Scarface hits Reaper behind the knee, and she falls to the ground. He reaches down with one hand to grip at her throat, and Leo’s breathing catches. 

Scarface tosses his gun aside and pulls down the balaklava over his face, showing off his scar in its full glory. 

“You’ve been on our ass for months.” he says, kicking Reaper in the stomach. She groans in pain, but stands her ground. Leo on the other hand starts to get freaked. He- he- he has to help her. If he can just get to the gun without Scarface noticing then-

“And honestly, I’d just like to see who is behind the mask.”

Leo’s eyes widen as he leans down and rips Reaper’s mask off, revealing her bright gray eyes and an identical scar ripped down the side of her otherwise perfect face. 

Scarface stumbles back from her, eyes widened in shock. 

“Annabeth?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update update update!  
> This one is a doozy. Pretty long, but I hope ya'll don't mind that!  
> Right now we're really getting to the deep stuff at the heart of all these superheroes, hopes, fears, etc. and this is just the beginning!  
> I hope you are all enjoying the super stuff and are excited for the character growth to come! If you are, let me know with a comment or kudos! They always motivate me to keep putting my heart into this story!  
> Thank you all! New update within the week.


	11. Do you trust me?

Holy shit. Holy fuckin’ shit. Leo knows he shouldn’t be surprised they know each other after seeing her react to his file, but still. The matching scars, hearing Reaper’s full name, the realization on his face, and the drama of it all has Leo’s mind severely blown. Leo is awestruck but also feeling so awkward because this is clearly like, the most anticipated reunion of all time, and Leo is intruding on it, sitting in the corner with a hog tied evil guy. 

“Luke.” Reaper says, voice stone cold. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks. His voice doesn’t sound gruff and commanding anymore. He sounds like a worried 20 year old. 

“What do you think I’m doing here?”

There's a shake in her voice, but her gaze remains hardened. Leo commends her for that. Being in the same room as Scarface makes him feel sad and mad and scared, and she's staring him down like he’s nothing. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” he warns. “You have no idea what you’re stepping into.”

“I think I do, actually.” she says, getting angrier by the second. “What’s happening right here is all the shit you and I were fighting _against._ And now, what? You’re the new posterboy for racking up with the mayor and being a shitty person?”

That hurts him. Leo can see it on his face. 

“That’s not fair.” he tells Reaper. “All I did was go out and get what we wanted instead of waiting for it to happen.”

“AND ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, PATIENT K?” Reaper cries. Scarface winces at the raise of her voice. “Are you happy? You’ve ditched me, got the powers you always wanted, and are a lackey on the wrong side. Please just tell me it was worth it. That you went out and got all you ever dreamed of.”

He looks off to the side wistfully. “This was never personal.” he says, quietly. “I didn’t do it to hurt you, Annabeth. You have to know that.”

“But you’re fine being selfish enough to let so many other people get hurt? We were supposed to be the heroes, Luke; not the villains."

Scarface goes silent. Meanwhile, Leo is just trying to keep up. Why does all this super stuff have to be so convoluted?

“Annabeth please if you just let me explain then-”

“Then what?” she asks, standing up and wiping the blood off her chin. “I’ll forgive you? This will all be okay?”  
He stares at her in silence. She stares him down as well, before pulling her knife out of her belt.

Okay. This might just be the bravest thing Leo has ever seen. 

She squares her shoulders and points her knife at him. “Fuck. You.”

She lunges toward him and Leo tries to process everything he just heard. He figures this Luke guy is the one Reaper joined the super team to try and save. And this whole time she’s spent directing her anger at Hera, it really should’ve been at this asshole who dumped her and willingly joined the evil army just to get powers. After seeing the identical scars, Leo would be a fool to think anything else. He’s glad the guy he’s holding tight is still passed out, because at this point, Leo doesn’t think he could take the physical fighting after the tidal wave of emotions he’s just been hit with. 

Reaper fights viciously against Luke. Unafraid to leave scratches on his arms with her knife. He seems focused on holding her off though. He’s not trying to hurt her, Leo can tell, but he’s also trying to keep himself safe. They’re a perfect match in fighting. Leo suspects it’s because they know each other. It’s like they can anticipate each other’s moves as if they were their own. Luke’s weakness for her proves to be fatal to him, as Reaper gets the upper hand. She grips at his collar and shoves him toward the open window. She lets his torso tilt out over the city as she leans in close to his face. 

“Tell me what you’re planning.” she demands. “If you care about me at all, you’ll help us.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Bullshit.”

She tilts him out farther, and he reaches up to put his hand over hers. 

“Are you going to help us or not?” she asks. 

“You know I can’t.”

And without a second thought, she lets go and he falls out the window. Leo is in utter shock. 

Reaper turns around, wiping the blood from her face on the back of her hand once again.

“He’ll be fine.” she growls. She then turns back to the corner where her knife is and heads over to pick it up. 

Jason, Frank, and Piper arrive soon after with nothing but a few new scratches. 

“They were too fast.” Frank says. “And had a lot of weapons.”

Leo is still in a in a confused state after the events that just unfolded, but he manages to find the bright spot and pat the passed out guy on the head. 

“I got this guy.” he says, feeling pretty proud of himself. “What can we do with him? I’ve got him tied up, but that’s probably a temporary hold.”

Jason glances over him. “Nothing.” he says. “Untie him and leave him here.”

Leo furrows his brows. Are you kidding? Why the hell would we leave him here? He’s like the only thing we got out of this mission.”

“He’s not going to give up any information willingly.” Jason says, simply. 

“We’re not even going to try?” Why is it that every time Leo tries and finds information in an unconventional way, Jason shoots it down. “We can, I don’t know keep him locked up, ask him questions, all that stuff.”

“We’re not torturers, Leo. Or kidnappers! Or bargainers!”

“This is a direct line to that dealer.” Leo says, knowing the logical move is to keep him. “To let him go would be stupid.”

Jason’s nostrils flare.

“I said no.”

Leo feel anger rising in him. Up to this point he was content just being part of the group, but he really detests the fact being in the group means letting Jason walk all over him. He's right, he knows he is and maybe if they listened to Leo they could actually get somewhere with their efforts. Leo just really wishes that Jason could trust him in practice as much as he says he does.

“Piper? Frank?” Leo asks as a last ditch effort to keep his guy. They stay silent. 

“Reaper? You have to think I’m right, right?”

All turn to look at her. And as hardened as her demeanor was during that entire fight, standing in front of them now she crumples to the ground, letting out a heaving sob. 

Piper and Frank run over to her, only just registering the mask is off, and Reaper's heart is heavy. 

Jason looks back at Leo, his gaze unwavering.

“We need to take care of us tonight.” he states. “Leave him.”

So Leo does, and they return to Piper’s empty handed. 

*

“Luke and I grew up together. We were best friends, and like every other kid in the world, we dreamed about being superheroes. We trained and everything to learn how to fight, but Luke always said that he would find a way for us to get powers.”

Reaper, or, Annabeth as they’re now allowed to call her, shivers underneath the blanket over her shoulders. Leo knows how hard this must be for her, so he tries to give her his full attention while she explains to them. 

“That’s how we got these scars.” she says, quietly. “He had read somewhere that a knife dipped in some sort of chemical could alter a person's’ genetic makeup and it would make us super. I trusted him, so we did it. Het cut my face and I cut his. Obviously it didn’t work, and that’s when I knew it had gone too far. I remember asking him, “why can’t we be like batman or black widow? Why do we have to have powers to be heroes?”’

She shakes her head. “We got into a huge fight and he left. Next time I saw him he was working for Hera. And I always thought-” her voice cracks. “I don’t know, I just thought that he got kidnapped by her or something, you know? But now I know he gave up everything for stupid powers, and I’ve never felt more mad or sad in my life.”

Piper gives a sympathetic look. “Maybe he-”

“No. I know him. He chose this.”

Annabeth sniffles and leans her head onto Frank’s shoulder. 

“I’m really sorry, Annabeth.” Jason says. 

“Out of your control.” she tells him. 

“I hate that. And I’m sorry to everyone. I know we had high hopes for tonight, but we can’t leave every mission with something.”

Jason’s words reignites the frustration Leo felt back at the warehouse. Against his better judgement, he throws in: “We could’ve left with something.” 

“Leo.” Jason says, firmly. His voice is getting annoyingly dad-ish and Leo hates it. “You know that’s not how we do things here.”

“But why not?” he asks. “Why can’t we take the initiative to do things that actually help us?”  
Jason pinches the bridge of his nose, a gesture usually reserved for Annabeth. 

“We had more pressing matters to attend to. Our team was down, so I made the tough call.”

Leo knows this isn’t the time or place to keep this fight going, but for some reason he can’t back down. 

“But it wasn’t a tough call, Jason. It was the easy call. And I’ve noticed that’s all we keep making. And Annabeth,” Leo says, the name feeling weird in his mouth. “I know this was a really hard night for you, but even though you were compromised, we should’ve taken that guy, and you know that.”

“Leo, what is your point?” Frank asks, seemingly annoyed at Leo too. 

“I don’t know what my point is!” Leo admits, throwing his hands into the air. 

_Relax Mijo. Shake your thoughts out and take your time to think before you speak._

Leo listens to the voice in his head, shaking out his thoughts and taking a deep breath. 

“Sorry.” he says. “I know this was a bad night for everyone. This was just a big opportunity to get stuff and the fact that it didn’t made me mad. I just hate ending up at square one over and over again.”

“It sucks. I know.” Piper says, hooking her arm around Leo’s. And he can feel her frustration too. “But it’s part of the gig.”

“But the Avengers never got thrown back to square one.” he says. “They were like constantly at square 50 so if they ever got thrown back it was only to square 15 or something.”

“Well, we’re not the Avengers.” Jason says. “We work differently. And we’ll just have to wait for the next thing to come around.”

Leo sighs, deciding he put up enough of a fight tonight. All of them need a break. 

“Guess we will.”

*

After 5 days of nothingness, Leo is really fed up with “waiting for the next thing to come around.”

He’s not a patient person, unless it’s when he’s working on a machine so this is like torture. Leo’s life feels like he’s staring at a broken car with all the right pieces but he can’t figure out how to fix it. Can’t understand how to move forward with the super group, and find the place where he fits. Piper becomes a staple in his life during this time. She does her best to deter him from his annoying thoughts by showing him stupid tv shows she’s watching and assuring him Jason doesn’t hate him hes’s just a control freak, which Leo is grateful for. He’s not grateful, however, for the “Supers go Silent” podcast that SoCal Supernatural has just released as that kind of kicks him when he’s already down. 

He’s at Piper’s for the night. Being around Frank and Hazel was bumming him out, and Piper has against all odds, become his best friend in the super group. She’s sitting on the floor with him, binging a glass blowing competition and patiently letting Leo flip through all the files once again. 

What are they missing. Leo can’t figure out what it is. It’s like a cog is rusted, or one bulb in a string of lights is broken. There has to be a reason they aren’t making progress. 

Leo is snapped from his unending inner monologue by his phone ringing. Piper glances over at the noise. Leo pulls his phone out. It’s Nyssa. 

Not wanting to let go of the files, and being comfortable enough with Piper, he answers the call and puts it on speaker. 

“Hey Leo, just calling to check up on you.” she says, her voice filling Leo with a very particular warmth. Talking with Nyssa is like sitting next to a candle that's been burning for a few hours. “How’s school?”

“School is good.”

“And how is Leo?”

He smiles. “Leo is busy, but good.”

“Good. Now I need you to tell me your address again. I got a bunch of scrap metal and bags of those weird little chips you love that I want to send you.”

“Nyssa, you don’t have to do that.”

“What! Who taught you to turn down gifts??? This wasn’t a question, it was a demand.”

Leo laughs. “Well if you’re demanding… I’ll text it to you later.”

“Thank you.” she says, and then her voice turns guilty. “I know I should come to visit, but I haven’t been able to get off work. Hours aren’t as flexible as they used to be.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I will worry about it! And I’ll make it up to you Leo, I promise. Okay?”

“Okay.” Leo smiles. “Love you.”

“Love you too, Leo.” she says, softly. “Strongest guy in SoCal, you are.”

They hang up, and Leo can see Piper watching him. 

“She seems really nice.” she says, finally. 

Leo gives her a half smile. “She is. Bit of a grump, but she’s really nice to me now. Everyone back home is still in that overly nice phase, you know?”

Piper nods. She probably doesn’t know, but Leo appreciates it. 

“Enough about me.” Leo says. “Update me on the Jason situation.”

“Okay, now it’s time for bed.”

“Oh come on, Piper.”

“There’s nothing to update!” she says. “Why are you so invested in this?”

“I don’t know! I want you to be happy.” Leo says, nudging her shoulder. “Even if it is with Jason, the man who currently hates me.”

“He does not hate you.” she says with a roll of her eyes. “And other things make me happy, Leo. We can talk about surfing, or dogs in purses, or a number of other topics that, if you were a woman, would get us to pass the Bechdel test.”

Leo snorts. “Fine. Fine, I give.”

She sets up the couch as a bed for him and Leo easily tucks himself in to sleep as Piper shuts off the tv. 

“Night, Leo.”

“Night.”

*

A second ago, Leo was lulling to sleep to the hum of Piper’s ceiling fan, but then tiredness overwhelms him and he curls into the lush pillow behind him and falls asleep.

He blinks his eyes open, and for a second, Leo doesn't know where he is. He's standing outside on a dirty sidewalk, staring off into the distance. His throat burns and his heart pounds against his chest as he tries to get his bearings. It’s dark, but as he turns around he sees the only light. The light coming from the garage engulfed in flames. Realization floods over him and he immediately runs back inside, finding his mom slumped against the door, and pulling her out onto the grass. 

“Mom” he rasps, feeling himself walking exactly though the memory, the feeling cutting him like it’s happening for the first time. “Mama, please.”

His mom stares up at him. She seems unaffected by the fire or the smoke. Her eyes are cold and distant.

“This is your fault,” she says, her voice firm and clear. 

Her voice reverberates in his ears. "W-what?"

"This is your fault." she says again, more forceful this time. "If you didn't have powers, I would still be alive. You became one of those superheroes even though you knew how I felt about them."

Guilt creeps up into Leo's throat like bile. It's hard to swallow. Her words are stinging at him like acid. Running through every negative thought he thinks almost everyday.

"Mama, I had to." Leo manages. "I didn't have a choice."

She reaches up and wraps her hand around his wrist, letting her nails press into his skin. 

"Yes. You. Did." she insists, louder than before. Leo, already scared and shaky starts to feel a burning sensation as her nails dig further into his wrist. 

Leo knows this isn't what happened. His mom didn't and would never say any of this stuff to him, but the tears come flooding down his cheeks anyways. Her grip gets so tight, Leo feels like she might break it in half. He tries to pull away, but she doesn't let go. Leo screw his eyes shut and fire engulfs his hand. His mom screams and releases him. When Leo opens his eyes, her hand is badly burned and she's looking at him with utter anger and horror. 

"No one made you join them after I died." she says, coldly. "You can walk away whenever you want, so why are you doing this?"

Leo has no words. No begging no pleading. His throat feels closed up, and tears keep streaming down his face as his mom continues to chant.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?”

Her voice repeats. Leo tries to plead with her, apologies spilling out of him, but she ignores. She lifts her blackened burned hand and reaches up to tap an **I hate you** onto his chest before the dream goes black.

_*_

Leo jolts awake, gasping for breath. His arms latch around the closest thing to him which happens to be Piper, perched on the side of the couch in her pajamas. 

She doesn’t say anything, but he can imagine the frown on her face when she gets a taste of how he’s feeling. He feels her waves of empathy crashing over him, but for once, they don’t work well enough to ease him, as tears prick in the corner of his eyes. He feels sad. And angry. And really really confused. Why is his subconscious bringing up the one memory in his life he wants to forget? The one feeling of guilt he’s been desperately trying to shove down?

 _Why are you doing this?_ _  
_ The painfully serious voice of his mother rings in his ears. 

“Why I am doing this?” he asks, himself. And for some reason, saying it out loud flicks a switch in his brain. He pulls back from Piper and looks her in the eyes. “Why are _we_ doing this?”

Piper reaches up and thumbs under his eyes for tears, but Leo's tears are no longer about to come. 

“Leo, I don’t understand.”

“Why are we doing _this?_ All this hero stuff? What's driving us?”

Piper furrows her brows. “Our consciences'? We’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do? Because we have to?”

Leo claps. “There it is.” 

Suddenly, everything is clicking into place. The cogs have been oiled in Leo’s brain, and he feels like he's seeing everything clearly for the first time. 

“We’re all doing this because we feel like we have to!” Leo says, standing up from Piper’s embrace. “We’re all listening to the wrong voice in our head.”

“You’ve really lost me, Leo. Are you okay?” Piper asks, seriously. “That dream seemed really bad.”

“It was.” Leo says, feeling his stomach clench up. “It was really fucking awful, but it forced me to really _really_ think about why I’m doing this. It’s not because Hera is bad, which she is, it’s because I still blame myself for my mom’s death.”

Piper bites down on his lip and reaches out to grip Leo’s hand. He takes it. 

“When I think about just taking down Hera because she's bad, I’m content with just sitting back and waiting for opportunities to come up for us to fight her. But when I think about my mom-” his voice breaks off for a second, but he remains composed. “That guilt that I feel over her, I want to spend every second out there fighting. Do you get me?”

Piper stands up too, her eyebrows knit together. “I- I think I do.” she says, looking up at him. “It’s personal. And we're not getting anywhere because we've been acting like it isn't.”

Leo squeezes her hand. “Exactly.” 

Piper looks at him, a little surprised. “You got all that from a dream?”

Leo makes a face. “Kind of? I’m sure that’s probably not what it was supposed to mean. It probably was just my subconscious trying to make me feed into that internal guilt, but I’ve never been good at following rules, so I took it the other direction.”

Piper laughs, squeezing his hand back. 

“Now.” Leo says. “Can I borrow your phone?”

She passes it over, and Leo makes his first ever five way phone call. 

“Everyone come to Piper’s. Now.”

And then he hangs up. 

“Leo, I think this is good where this is going, but are you sure you don’t want to talk about your dream more? Or how you feel?”

Leo shakes his head. And for the first time, he’s not trying to hide his feelings, for fear of wrecking that one-dimensional likeable person he puts out. Instead, he feels those hurt feelings fuel him in a different way; a way towards a monumental change in him and this group. 

“I’m good.”

*

20 minutes later, Leo is wired, while the rest of the team sits in front of him. He's running high on a lot of emotions. Sadness, guilt, fear, but determination and passion are really ruling his brain right now. The super team looks battered. They’re tired, in pajamas, and upset that they’re all here in the middle of the night, so Leo doesn’t waste any time getting into it. 

“I figured out why this isn’t working. Why we keep getting stuck in a rut.” Leo proclaims. 

He steps over to Annabeth and points straight at her face.  
“Why are you doing this?” he asks, echoing the question mean dream mom posed to him. 

“Leo, what is this all about?”

“Not now Jason, I’m talking to Annabeth.” Leo says, glancing over at his exasperated friend. He turns back to Annabeth, finger still pointed at her. “My mom died for this and I won’t stop trying to take down Hera for _her_. Now, what is your reason? Whyare you doing this?”

Annabeth stares at him.

“Because my best friend took her side, and I keep fighting because maybe if I defeat her I'll have a chance to get him back.”

“Bingo!” Leo says. They’re getting it. He moves over to Jason. 

“Because she’s evil.”

Leo makes a face. “No, Jason. Personal. We all know she’s bad, but what makes you never want to stop fighting?”

Jason knits his brows together. “Because she threatens the city and the people I love!”

Not that personal, but Leo can tell he means it, so he takes it.

“Yeah she does! Now hit me, Piper!”

“I got put in charge of taking care of the people of this city. Hera trying to control how they think and feel pisses me off and I want her GONE.”

“YEAH YOU DO!”

All eyes go to Frank. 

And for a final time, Leo poses his question. 

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I have to.”

“No! See, no. That can’t be the reason, Frank. You could’ve been your family’s protector without getting involved with these guys.” Leo says, motioning around the circle. “I know you hate your powers, but something has made you stay this long. There’s a reason that you’re ignoring. A reason you want to stop Hera.”

Frank looks down at his lap, his hands gripping into fists. 

“I’m doing this because I don’t want anymore kids getting forced into having powers the way I was.”

“THERE WE GO.” Leo says, running forward and patting Frank on both shoulders. 

“NOW ARE WE GOING TO LETTING HERA CONTROL WHEN WE FIGHT BACK? ARE WE GOING TO KEEP LETTING HER DECIDE WHEN WE FIGHT FOR WHAT WE CARE ABOUT?”  
“Okay, Leo. Calm down.” Jason says. “I can tell you’re passionate about this, but what does this all mean? How does this change anything?”  
“Caring changes everything, Jason.” Leo says, kneeling down in front of him. “Like you said we all have different reasons for being here, and that is what makes us unique. Let’s let those bring us together for once, instead of tearing us apart, huh? Let’s fight for Annabeth getting Luke back, let’s fight to save the city you love, the people Piper protects, the Super kids that are just like Frank, and the memory of my mom.”

And in that moment, Leo can _feel_ his mom. Not that awful mean one from his dream, but the presence of his strong, loving, beautiful mom, tapping an _I love you_ onto his chest. That tells him that he’s heading in the right direction. And the crazy thing is, from the look on Jason’s face, he almost feels like he felt it too.

“But, how?” Jason asks.

“Do you trust me?”  
“I do.”  
“Good, because we’re going to stop with the whole waiting for the next thing bullshit.” he says. “We’re going to take matters into our own hands.”

Leo sits back on his heels and looks at the people around him, looking at him with admiration and trust like he’s never felt before. Leo’s never had this with people. It was always him and his mom or him and his machines, the only things that kept his company, but now, for the first time, he’s really put _himself_ into this machine of super people, and suddenly everything is humming to life. 

“Now. How do we feel about bringing in some reinforcements?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's excited that I actually post on a consistent day now?? ME!  
> Thursdays from now until forever will be when my chapters are posted!  
> Welcome to the turning point of this story everyone!  
> Things are just going to get more emotionally driven and tangled and wild and I can't wait  
> I've actually struggled a lot with this fic, trying to get the characters acting how I want within the plot I've set out so it's been a really fun and new challenge for me! I hope I'm doing it justice haha.  
> Next week's chapter will be really fun so stay tuned and thanks for reading!!


	12. Reinforcements

“How long has it been?”

“Only fifteen minutes.” Piper assures. “He’s just- processing.”

Leo crouches down in front of Jason whose been frozen in a thinker position ever since Leo suggested that they bring in non-super reinforcements. 

It’s a good idea, a great one in Leo’s opinion, but he knew it would be hard to get Jason on board. Leo tried to explain, but by the time he got around to it, Jason had already committed to his role of 

**Statue of Frustrated Man**

**(2019)**

**Bronze**

“Do I poke him or will that make him angrier?”

Piper rolls her eyes and sits down beside Jason. She slips a hand under his chin and tilts his head up enough so he’s eye to eye with Leo. 

“Just explain.” Piper says. “He’s listening.”

Leo wants to object to staring into the soulless eyes of frustrated Jason, but he trusts Piper enough to go forth and do. 

“Okay, I know it sounds crazy but non-super reinforcements are what we need. I know there are people out there who know more about the mayor and this town and the situation than us, and if we work with what they know and what we know then combined we can actually learn new things and figure out a plan to stop whatever is happening on Election Night.”

“How are we supposed to find these non-supers to help?” Frank asks, before letting out a yawn. 

Leo shrugs. “My idea was just, if you have an idea of someone to bring, bring them. We’ll all reconvene in like three days and figure shit out. And obviously we’re not going to be revealing our super identities or telling them about Mayor Hera’s hypnotic voice and super army, but they’d know enough to help.”

“That’s not much of a plan.” Annabeth says, nonchalantly. “I’m not bashing it, just calling attention to it.“

“That’s all part of the Valdez experience.”

No one seems to object, but Leo knows full well that nothing will get done unless he convinces Jason to loosen the reigns; to think about why he’s doing this and how Leo’s plan can help him achieve that. 

“Come on, Jason.” Leo urges. “Your city is on the line. And who better to get help from the than people who know this city and actually give a shit about saving it too?”  
Jason sighs, finally breaking from his self-induced statuesque state. 

“Sunday? Our regular meeting time?”

Leo sighs, a grin spreading onto his face. “Yes. And, thank you.”  
*

From the second he introduced the idea, Leo had one person in mind to bring in as a reinforcement. One that came as no surprise to Frank, or Jason for that matter. Leo also had absolutely zero doubts that she would say yes, so he waits till Sunday afternoon to ask her. Hazel is spending her Sunday downtown. After deciding to do some digging, she had made friends with some people in the criminology department that had led her to city records. Leo knows she’s been out and around the huge library all week, so it was easy to assume she'd be there once again.

Leo, dressed in his full super gear, waits patiently in the alley beside the library, so that he can catch her the second she comes out. It’s around 5:00, when she actually does, and Leo wastes no time catching up to her. 

“Hey!” he calls. “You in the "capitalism sucks" t-shirt!”

Hazel whips her head around and her eyes brighten as she finds the source of the voice to be Leo, well uh, his alter ego.

“We meet again.” she says, walking over with a coy smile. “I see you’ve upgraded the outfit.”

Leo chuckles, still doing his best to deepen his voice from its normal register. “That I have. Now listen, I’ve been meaning to ask you for a favor.”

Hazel raises her eyebrows. “Oh really? What favor does a superhero need from me?” she asks. “And if you say damsel practice, the answer is a definite no. You saving me was a one time thing. I hope we’re clear on that.”

Leo can’t help but laugh again. Damn does he wish Hazel wasn’t so charming and kickass. Things would be a lot easier on him. 

“Nothing like that. A little birdy told me you’re not very fond of the mayor. Well, my friends and I aren’t either, and we were wondering if you’d be interested in helping us on something we’re working on?”

Hazel’s eyes widen. “When you say your friends, you mean-?”

“The super team? Yeah. I do.”  
She all but jumps for joy at his words. “Yes. Yes. I would love to help. I hate the mayor. I’ve literally spent all semester organizing protests, searching for impeachment evidence, and I even wrote this whole Op Ed piece about her.”

Leo smiles. “Yeah. I know all about that stuff.”

Hazel beams at him. 

“Now.” Leo says. “I’m going to have to take you someplace. And to get there, you’re going to have to cover your eyes and let me carry you.”

Hazel raises her eyebrows at him. “Fire boy, you do know I have a boyfriend.”

Leo rolls his eyes at that. “Yeah yeah, guy you’re seeing, I remember,” he says. “Now are you going to let me carry your or will boyfriend have a problem with that?”

Hazel chuckles, pulling the scarf out of her hair and wrapping it around her eyes.   
“He’ll be fine.”

And with that, she reaches for Leo, wraps her arms around his neck, and allows him to lift her into his arms.

*

One of Jason’s requests when agreeing to Leo’s idea was that they meet in a secure and unidentifiable location. That obviously wasn’t Piper’s apartment, so second choice came from Annabeth. She tapped on her phone for a minute and then announced to everyone that she had rented an AirBnB for $30 for one night, allowing their Sunday meeting to take place. So that’s where they’ve all agreed to reconvene with the reinforcements; a small cabin by the beach. 

When Leo arrives at said beach cabin with Hazel in tow he is greeted by Frank, in full creature costume, flipping him off. Beside Frank is a very very enthusiastic looking guy in an Area 51 Raid shirt and a head of curly brown hair. In the attached kitchen, Leo can see Jason and Piper also in full costume, having some sort of heated discussion. Leo presumes Piper is reminding Jason that he’s trusting Leo and that this is going to go fine, which he appreciates. 

“Party has arrived!” Leo announces, drawing all the attention that wasn’t already on him to him. 

Leo sets down Hazel and lets her pull off the scarf on her own. Hazel steps further into the cabin, and Frank’s eyes follow her as she takes in the rest of the heroes in front of her. 

The Area 51 raid guy quickly hops up from his seat and makes a beeline for Leo. 

“Fire guy, you’re the man!” he says, with a huge grin. “I’m like, your biggest fan.”

Leo and Hazel’s attention both gets caught as his words, as they recognize his voice. 

“Holy shit! You’re the host of SoCal Supernatural!” Leo grins, feeling a warm sense of excitement bubble up in his chest. He feels like he’s talking to a celebrity.

The guy smiles even bigger. “In the flesh, bro, in the flesh.”

Leo kind of wants to sit and talk to him for hours, but Jason and Piper join them in the living room with a message.   
“Reaper is on her way.” Jason says. “She will be here any minute with her reinforcement.”

Leo nods. He does take note that neither Jason or Piper had brought anyone, but that’s alright. Three strong helpers are more than Leo could’ve expected anyways. And from the way things are kicking off with Hazel and the SoCal Super guy, this is going to be great. Leo gets even more excited as things are really starting to fall into place. 

As promised, Reaper arrives five or so minutes later. When she steps through the door, her reinforcement follows behind her with no blindfold, looking completely unbothered by the fact that he has just stepped into the presence of superheroes. 

And for some reason, Leo can’t stop staring at him. He’s not impressive looking. He’s shorter than Leo, which is embarrassingly short, and he genuinely looks like he just got out of bed and slothed over here. Despite that, Leo feels some weird pull towards him. As if he has something Leo really needs. Leo’s got no idea how to explain it.

The guy shuts the door behind him, and follows Reaper to the circle that had formed in the living room. 

“Okay!” Jason says, clapping his hands together. As nervous as he was about today, Jason really can’t resist taking control of a group situation. “Now that everyone is here, we should probably introduce ourselves. I’ll go first. I’m Metal Man.”

“You look just like my friend Jason!” Hazel says. And Leo has to really concentrate to not burst out laughing. Jason clears his throat. 

“I get that a lot.” he replies, cool as a cucumber. “I think I just have one of those faces.”

She nods. “I believe it.”

Leo is amused by how blunt Hazel is and how vocal she can be in a room full of super powered people. It’s a refreshing change of pace to the typical group dynamic.

“Opia.” Piper says next, waving her hand a little bit. 

“Creature.” Frank says, avoiding Hazel’s eyes. 

“Connor Stoll. Host of SoCal Supernatural, freshly returned from the Area 51 raid, and famous for coining the name of this guy.” Connor finishes, elbowing Frank in the arm. 

“Love your show.” Annabeth’s guy says.

“Hey thanks dude.”

Then it’s Leo’s turn. “I’m- well frankly I’m still undetermined, but I guess you could call me-”

“Fire boy!” Hazel says, cutting in. “That’s what I call him anyway. And I’m Hazel. Just your average Caltech student trying my best to impeach Hera.”

Both Connor and Annabeth’s guy lean in to give Hazel a high five for that. Leo fucking loves these new recruits.

“Reaper.” Annabeth says simply. 

And then they’re on the last person in the circle. Leo’s eyes train on the guy once again. Maybe he’ll introduce himself and say that he actually holds the secret to stopping the mayor, or that he and Leo knew each other in a past life. Something to explain why Leo is feeling like this. 

“Nice to meet you all. I’m Nico.” is what he says. He shoves his hands in his pockets, obviously not used to talking in front of large groups. “Sleep deprived college dropout extraordinaire.”

Okay not what Leo was expecting, but he laughs nonetheless. Nico glances over at him and gives him a half smile. 

“Well okay then!” Jason says, pulling the attention back to him. “I know this is weird. Kind of unheard of, you know supers working alongside the people they’re supposed to be protecting but you know, I trust my good friends sitting in this room, and they think this is the way to go, so I believe them.”

Leo breathes a sigh of relief. He respects Jason. Sure, he’ll fight him on things, but the guy really does excel in taking all the trust and responsibility people give him, and using it for what he thinks is good. 

“So the reason you are all here is because we need help.” Leo can tell that’s a hard thing for Jason to admit. “And you three are our experts. Hazel knows this political system like the back of her hand. Connor knows the super side probably even better than us and his conspiracies might actually lead us to the truth more than he realizes. And Nico…”

That’s when Jason’s voice trails off. 

Reaper steps in. “He’ll be very useful to us when the time comes.”

“Good enough for me!” Jason says. “Now we should probably get to work. We should start by..”

And for the first time, Jason looks to Leo. Asking for him to make a decision on what they’re doing. Leo’s chest heats up with excitement. Truth be told, he doesn’t know the best way to attack this, but he’s going to take his chances. 

“Why don’t we split into groups? Have a politics group, a conspiracy group, a Supergroup, etc.” Leo manages. “Break it all down and then come back together for the big plan?”

Jason smiles at Leo. A real proud dad smile.   
“Go team!”

*

If Leo’s life were an early 2000s movie, this would be the point in which they soared into a lit asf montage. Leo and Hazel sit down in a group and are joined by Nico. The three of them immediately divulge into political discussions and Hazel rifles through her backpack to share with the group every single thing she has discovered thus far on her digging. The montage would flash from them to Connor unravelling earlier conspiracies, freaking out over meeting Opia, to Jason explain what it’s like being a superhero to all the non-supers in the room. Leo pulls his head out from his montage and hones back in on what Hazel has been talking about. 

“The biggest red flags I found though were her connections to Olympus corp. and her strange payroll.”

“Tell us about it.”

“Well Olympus corp. is this huge business located in downtown. No one really knows anything about it except for the fact they manufacture all this heavy machinery and stuff.” That catches Leo’s attention. Yeah it interests him because that’s probably where the dealer is from and the machine turning people super is important, but all Leo is really thinking about is his mom. 

“Basically they invested in her campaign before she even announced candidacy. Which is shady as hell and makes no sense. Why on earth would a huge corporation invest so much money in the campaign of one Southern California mayor?”

“That is strange.” Nico agrees. 

Leo’s mind is only starting to unpack her words, so he stays quiet as she continues on to her next topic. 

“The second thing is that all these people keep getting hired. Like a million entry level positions or internships or something, but none of them appear on the payroll.”

“Could they be unpaid internships?”

“You would think, but it’s over 50 people thus far. I don’t think anyone can justify that amount of people working unpaid. It’s so fucked.”

It is fucked. Leo knows that these new “interns” are the manufactured super kids, and he can’t get over how shitty it is not only for them to exist in the way that they do, but that they also have to work for Mayor Hera unpaid. Even Jason gets paid for sitting around books all day, you think there would be some compensation for causing havoc every night and continuously dodging supers and police.

“So, that’s what I’ve got so far. It’s not much, but it’s something.”

“No it’s really good.” Leo says, setting a hand on her shoulder. He can see Frank glaring at him out of the corner of his eye, so he pulls it off. “This stuff is more helpful than you know.”

Hazel smiles at him. Then, she decides to turn her attention to Nico. Who to be fair, had been chiming in when he could, but still hadn’t contributed much. 

“Nico?” she asks. He looks up at her with raised eyebrows. “Not to be blunt, but what is your angle on this? Why were you brought here?”

Leo’s been thinking the same thing. Like just being a cool guy doesn’t really get you a place on the super reinforcements team. 

He shrugs. “I don’t know, really.” he admits. “I have this one, uh, specific talent, but I don’t really understand how it could help the current situation.”

“What is it?” Hazel asks. “Archery or hacking or something?”

Nico chuckles, catching Leo’s eye and giving him a wink. “Something like that.”

Leo shakes that interaction out of his head as he can’t even begin to make sense of it right now. Instead, he recalls Hazel’s earlier talk about the machine company. Olympus corp.

“Hazel? Could I ask you to do some more digging for me? Something specific? Nico can help too, there’s safety in numbers, but I know you’re the expert on this stuff.”

“Of of course. I’m up for whatever you need.”

“Okay. I need you to look into a machine.”

Leo goes on to explain vaguely, the machine that they have come across in blueprints. Leo hopes, that between Hazel’s ability to dig, and what they know now about the mayor and Olympus corp. Leo will finally be able to find something that brings this back to his mom.

She agrees, and the group of them are soon called over to where Connor is sitting, the entire group congregated around him. 

“What’s going on?”  
“Connor’s about to tell about what he thinks is going down on Election night.”

That gets Leo, Hazel, and Nico sitting down and attentively listening to what Connor has to say. 

“It’s going to be big obviously, and I think from what you’ve told me that she is almost 100% sure she will be winning the re-election. This points to Election night being the culmination of whatever ulterior plan or motive she has for winning. Based on past scandals and my own conspiracies which are based in 0% fact and 100% speculation-”

“Just tell us.” Jason says. “Your speculations are always on par.”

“You mean Mayor Hera is an alien?”

Jason makes a face. “Okay maybe not always. Just- keep talking.”

“Got it boss. Basically, I think that by winning this re-election, she’ll have reached her goal of taking control of the city and its assets. This past year alone she’s been taking out anyone who goes against her, namely poor people, people of color, college protesters, and well, you guys so by the time this election night rolls around, it will be just her supporters and people she can _make_ support her.”

“What do you mean make?”

Connor runs a hand through his curls. “Now this is following my alien theory, but I’d say she stands to take over this city, maybe by brainwashing or brute force, and continue to take over the world like the evil intergalactic dictator she is.”

“But why?” Frank asks. 

Connor shrugs. “I don’t know? A sense of entitlement? Power hungry? All supervillains have motives, we just have to kind of crack down on figuring out what hers is.”

The group falls silent. As much as Leo wants to pretend that Connor is talking nonsense, he seems to be hitting every single point. Touching on Election night ending in what they fear most. 

“So. How do you propose we stop her? Stop all of this from happening?”

Connor sighs. “Heroes are never really allowed to be proactive, Metal Man. Unless you go back and kill Hera as a baby or something, I think that this is all about getting as prepared as you can, and going into a huge fucking battle on Election night.”

Jason lets out a low whistle. “Well. We should have expected it would probably come to this.”

There’s a tension in the room. Nervousness, Leo thinks. Everyone has been sort of silently hoping they could figure out a way to lob off Hera’s head and reverse the super stuff before Election night, but even Connor thinks that’s wishful thinking. 

“But hey, you guys are the best of the best.” Connor says, tossing an arm around Frank, and one around Jason. “If anyone is fit to tear down they mayor, it’s our favorite city protectors.”

Hazel loops her arm around Leo’s and squeezes it gently. 

“And we’re here to help with whatever you need.”

“Thank you.” Piper says, genuinely. “Thank you all so much. For believing in us and for helping us. You’ve really changed the game for us.”

“It’s true.” Jason admits. “I was hesitant, but I really want to thank you all for meeting with us today. We are now better suited to protecting all of you like we promised.”al

And Leo can feel the mood of the group lighten significantly, and it’s not even Piper’s doing. 

“We should reconvene soon.” Jason instructs. “We’ll be in contact with you three. If you need us before then, well, try and find us out on the streets some time. We’ll do our best to be seen.”

Hazel, Nico, and Connor agree. 

And with that, the first meeting of the non-super and super team meeting is over. And the first step towards really knowing why they’re doing this, and figuring out their new path to defeating Hera is in the books as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter!!  
> So fun! I've been wanting to get more into other characters in the story so I was v excited for this chapter.  
> Things are actually going well for our fave super group of misfits so you know exactly what that means!  
> Shit is about the hit the fan hahaha. I'm so sorry they can never catch a break. Maybe soon :)  
> Thanks for all the kudos and nice words!  
> Next update will be Thursday  
> feel free to hit me up anytime at my tumblr gracesjasons !


	13. I found your machine

“Hazel is looking for you.” Frank says, the second Leo steps in through the door to their dorm. “She’s been freaking out all day and she won’t tell me anything. All she’ll say is that she needs you.”

Leo raises an eyebrow. “Now why is _your_ girlfriend desperately seeking me?”

“Not _you_ you, dumbass.” Frank says, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fire boy.”

“For the record that is not my official name. Just want to make that clear.”

“It’s clear.”

“Swear on your turtleneck collection.”

“Leo seriously, this could be-”

“Swear it!”

Frank sighs. “Why does everything always have to be so difficult with you.” he grumbles. “Fine, yes, I swear on my turtleneck collection.”

Leo didn’t really think he would cave, so he’s delighted when Frank does. He heads further into the room, pats the big guy on the shoulder, and continues on to throw his backpack up onto his bunk. 

“So, what does Hazel want?”

“Again, I don’t know.” Frank reiterates. “But she says it’s really important, so you have to go find her! Now!”

Leo was only slightly interested, but then his skin starts to heat up. What has Hazel found? Is it the secret to all their problems? Is it a very detailed plot of how Hera is planning to brainwash everyone and how they can stop it? He hopes so. 

“Where can I find her?”

“Student center, but Leo?”

Leo glances back at Frank. 

“Don’t let her get hurt, okay?”

Leo’s face softens. “I won’t.”

“And one more thing.”

Frank reaches into his bottom desk drawer and pulls out a box of toaster strudels. 

“There.” he says, tossing them to Leo. “Now will you stop eating mine?”

Leo feels warmth prick in his chest. A feeling usually reserved for memories of his mom, Hazel and her soft but fierce smile, and sometimes even Piper. But now, oddly enough, he’s feeling it for Frank. Leo chocks it up to his love of Toaster strudel, but a little part of him knows Frank is growing on him.

In that way that people you go to class with or work with start to become actual friends. It’s weird, and Leo shakes it away with a swift thanks to Frank, but he doesn’t forget the warmth as he grabs his super stuff and rushes off to find Hazel. 

*

As Frank said, she’s in the student center. She’s hurriedly typing into her phone, clutching a stack of papers to her chest. She also has a cut under her eye that Frank failed to mention to Leo when he was describing her frantic search for him. Leo knows it’s risky to be out in his super stuff on campus in the daytime, but if Hazel needs him as desperately as she says, and if she possibly holds information that’ll help him avenge his mom then it is worth the risk. 

Still, he manages to stay out of too many eyes. He gets a few double takes, but no one really registers who he is. Leo tries to think of a way to get Hazel’s attention when she’s all the way across the quad. He thinks grabbing her with his extended arm is probably the worst thing he could do, but all that’s racking in his brain is weird new inventions like girl mover and giant butterfly nets that stretch a hundred feet. 

Eventually, he shuts his brain off and gets her attention the old fashioned way. It only takes about five failed attempts before Leo chucks a rock that clocks her right in the side of the head. 

He winces. Man, he really has to up his game with the ladies. Hazel’s hand pulls up to her hair and she glances around with an angry expression. Her eyes scan the crowd, and thankfully, her eyes fall on Leo, jumping up and down and silently waving her over. She moves faster than he thought was possible for a mortal, and in a second she’s by his side. 

“I have what you asked for.” she says, hurriedly tugging at the papers under her arm. 

Before she can reveal them to him, Leo wraps a hand around her wrist. “Not here. Let’s go.”

The two of them run out of the crowded campus space in a blur of orange, in Leo’s case, and find a more obstructed meeting place on the outskirts of a parking lot. Behind some lovely dumpsters that could really do with a fall fucking cleaning. Does trash really always smell that bad? Leo thinks that someone should have invented something by now to take care of that. He snaps himself back from dumpster muddle as he sees Hazel staring at him expectantly. Leo is so close to letting his inner Frank and Jason take him over where he scolds Hazel and looks over her wounds like a mother hen, but he keeps it at bay. His fiery super persona isn’t like him. He’s effortlessly cool and aloof. He wouldn’t try and mother the girl he likes, so Leo shoves his feelings down and shakes out his head. 

“So, what have you got for me?” he asks, in his trademark fake-deep voice. 

“I found your machine. Well. Machines.”

Leo keeps a calm face, but his insides immediately set alight. He squeezes his fist tight, something he’s been having to do a lot recently. He’s just so worried nowadays that something will try and rip out of him beyond his control. Machines? His brain screams. As in more than one? Shit. That’s bad news probably. But also in Leo’s mind, machine equals mom, so those thoughts kind of overwhelm the nerves. 

“I found the one you were looking for.” Hazel continues. “I snuck into the Olympus corp. factory offices. This was in their drawer.”

She hands it over to Leo, who takes it. And yep. It looks like a sketchy death machine. Like Captain America’s super maker had a baby with Snow white’s glass box. Bottom line, it really doesn’t look like a place humans should be.

“See? The coil is there.” Hazel says, pointing to the coil that apparently should sit in the bottom of the machine. 

Leo nods, knowing he’s going to have to let his brain have a field day with this later. 

“And the other one?”

She hands over the pages. These look a lot older And the machine looks a lot scarier. Just from looking at it, Leo can’t really wrap his brain around what it’s supposed to be. He flips the page over and there are paragraphs of scrawled writing. Writing that could tell him exactly what’s happening. 

“I tried reading it.” Hazel admits, “But it was basically all machine talk. I couldn’t understand it.”

Leo barely hears her. She starts to tune out against his will as his mind goes into overdrive. 

“What is this anyway?”

“Nothing.” Leo says quickly, snapping his head back up. “I mean, we don’t uh know yet.”

Which is true, to be fair. Just not completely true. He’s got an idea. 

“So you said you got this from Olympus corp.?” Leo asks, having to consciously focus his brain on Hazel for the time being. 

She nods. 

“And the scar?” he asks, pointedly. 

Hazel gives him a bashful look. A rarity for her. At this point Leo is pretty sure it’s reserved for Fire Boy. 

“Saw the guy with the scar walking by and I got scared.” she says. “Ran into a support beam.”

Leo frowns. He makes a note to tell Annabeth. 

“You need to be more careful.”

Hazel rolls her eyes. “I’ll try.”

Leo wants to keep talking to her, he does, but those papers in his hand feel red hot in his grip. He has to go. He needs to assemble the team and get them over to his and Frank’s so they can rip into this. They can find out what’s really going on and maybe it’ll help them? Maybe it’ll give Leo answers. 

“Thank you.” he says, seriously. He hopes Hazel knows what it means. 

She smiles. “My pleasure. Updates soon?”

He nods. “I will.”

She leans in and kisses his cheek. Leo doesn’t even stop to revel in the warmth before he’s running home. 

*

Twenty minutes, a five way phone call, and a “convince Jason this is fine” session later, all five of the team are in Leo and Frank’s tiny dorm, searching through papers. 

Five minds are better than one, he thinks. Especially minds that all go to Caltech. Now Leo is never the one to turn down bragging about himself, he is a fucking incredible engineer, but his mind also has trouble keeping focus and following rules. That’s where he thinks the others come in. Jason will read through the blueprints by the book, decipher what they mean. Frank gets the math where Leo focuses more on the parts. Annabeth and Piper can both read and decipher the wording and see the bigger picture. What this thing would actually look like up and running. They’re a perfect fit for the problem. 

So why the hell can’t they figure anything out?  
“I can’t even read this writing at the end.” Piper groans, squinting at the smudged ink. “Not only is it in weird mechanical shorthand that died out in the 80’s, but it’s also in the shittiest handwriting around.”

Annabeth leans over and grimaces. “That handwriting is shitty. And I invented shitty handwriting.”

Leo makes a face, and grabby hands it away from Piper, but he doesn’t have more luck than her. 

“Frank you’re holding it upside down again.” Jason says, and Frank grumbles in response, flipping it right side up.   
“It wasn’t making sense that way, so I thought I’d turn it upside down.”

Leo shuts his eyes, and let’s his hands run over the paper, as if that might help him. He tries to imagine what it would feel like all set up and ready to run. But, people keep talking. He can’t concentrate. He sighs.   
“Piper, can you read the deciphered stuff again?”   
She nods, flipping her hat backwards to push back her hair. “Machine _something_ is being temporarily put to rest. After long periods of test trials, we have decided that without _something else_ we cannot _something something_ and that the machine could not and will not carry out it’s desired _something._ We will be keeping the machine at the ready for _something_ and in the meantime will progress on our smaller project _something something_ XJ942.”   
Leo’s ears perk up. “Wait that last part is new. Say it again.”

"in the meantime will progress on our smaller project _something something_ XJ942.”   
Leo connects two wires together. “Who wants to bet that smaller project XJwhateverthefuck is the super person creator?”   
Jason flips his page over and looks up. “Me. I think you’re right.”

“Okay, so what?” Annabeth asks. 

Leo furrows his brows.   
“I’m sorry, Leo, I know you’re all excited about this, but what does this even matter?” she asks. “This old ass machine we’re sitting around deciphering that was apparently discontinued in like the 90’s isn’t helping us stop Hera. It’s just sitting collecting dust somewhere.”

She’s thinking logically. Leo hates that she is, because he isn’t.

“No no, there’s gotta be something we aren’t seeing. Stuff that you guys aren’t seeing, I’ll find it.”

“Are you sure?” Piper asks. “This isn’t like that stuff we stole, this seems random. How does this affect us?”

“I- I don’t know!” Leo admits. “But I want to keep looking.”

He looks up at his friends, who all, but Jason seem exceptionally tired of this. Jason probably is too, but he won’t show it. Leo originally thought having the group was the right move. Having his group of people makes everything better. But, he’s realizing not always. He feels like Annabeth when she tracks Luke, how she thinks that she can work better alone. Leo knows this is probably stemming from his own emotional attachment, but even if it is, that’s what’s driving him, so he’s going to follow it. 

“You guys go.” he says, ducking his head back to the papers. “Thanks for coming. I’ll keep looking.”

They stare back at him, waiting for him to say something else, but Leo’s brain had abandoned the conversation. His brain has turned one track, and he intentionally shut himself out of the group for it. 

A month ago, Leo never would’ve done that. But now.. 

Now he barely registers his friends walk out the door. 

*

Leo is alone. He’s been alone in his thoughts now for hours. And he’s still not getting anywhere. 

“Precursor to super machine, hydraulic engines, twenty feet wide.,” he murmurs to himself, sketching nonsensical parts onto his notebook. As soon as he gets sick of staring at blueprint page, he flips back to the words. 

“Why can’t I understand you?” he groans, tapping his forehead hard with his pencil. 

_Because you’re thinking like you_ his mom’s voice rings in his ears. 

“Who else am I supposed to think like? Jason?” Leo snorts, bringing himself a bit of humor in these trying times. 

“Who are you talking to?”

Leo doesn’t even look over at Frank in his bunk before replying, “No one.”

He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to reach his mom again. 

_Who’s the most skilled mechanic you know, Mijo? Take a little hint._

Mind mom wants him to think like her? It’s a reasonable suggestion. Esperanza had a gift with machines, almost more than Leo. She could touch something and know what was wrong and exactly how to fix it. She also had terrible, terrible handwriting, which enabled her to read any handwriting under the sun. Leo doesn’t know how remembering his mom had bad handwriting can help him decipher the letter but he tries. 

He stares at it, trying to take a picture with his mind, before putting his pencil to his notebook and shutting his eyes. 

The next few minutes are sort of a blur. He blinks his eyes open and half expects to see everything written out perfectly. That’s not what happened. There’s a lot of smudged words overlapping across the paper, but Leo does see new words that stick out to him. 

_Citywide_

_Redefine_

_Masses_

_Chemical Balance_

_Brain Waves_

_Missing_

Missing. Part missing. Been missing since the 90s and without it they couldn’t continue. 

Leo feels like he’s brain blasting. Machine made by Olympus corp. Who works with Hera. Hera has henchman who came to Leo’s mom’s garage looking for something. Something that’s been missing. The missing piece that they needed for their machine. 

A lump forms in Leo’s chest the size of Mars. Hands squeezed tight at his sides as his brain connects the pieces. It connects the pieces to show Leo that there’s only one person in the whole freaking world who could explain all this stuff to him. And she’s not here, so there’s only one place he can go. 

“Frank.” he says, weakly. Frank looks over, and Leo’s sure that he looks like he’s aged about a hundred years, because that’s how weak and weathered he feels at this realization.

“I have to go to the garage.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy! A little short one for ya'll. This is really working as the setup for the next chapter which is a biggie that I literally cannot wait for you all to read. Like waiting to post it has been so hard!  
> Thank you all for keeping on reading and leaving comments and kudos it makes me so happy!!  
> New chapter will be up next Thursday!  
> And as always pls feel free to hit me up at my tumblr gracesjasons :)


	14. The garage

“The garage?” Frank asks, slowly. “The garage garage? As in-”

“Yes. As in. That one.” Leo says, ignoring the churning in his stomach. He stands up and shuffles the papers together. “Will you drive me?”

Frank eyes him for a second. He wants to say something else, but he doesn’t. He just nods. 

“Y-yeah, I’ll get my keys.”

He climbs out of his bunk and heads to his desk where grabs his keys. Frank stands clutching his key for a second before turning around. 

“You said I.” Frank says, with brows furrowed. “You want to go alone.”  
Leo nods. 

“Well, I’m vetoing that idea.” Frank states, firmly. 

Leo raises his eyebrows. 

“You want to go. I don’t know why, but I know you wouldn’t go back there unless it was important.” Frank says. “So, I’m not going to let you go through this alone.”

A snarky reply floats into Leo’s brain, asking Frank what he cares about Leo, but Leo ignores it. Frank has been more of a friend to Leo than he’d care to admit; between the toaster strudel and the willingness to go in on Leo’s plans, the guy has been there for him for a lot. So, he appreciates Frank for this. 

“Okay.” Leo concedes. “Thank you.”

Frank gives a curt nod. “You go down to the car.” He instructs, handing Leo his keys. “I’ll call the others.”

He sets his hand on Leo’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze. Leo doesn’t know what comes over him in that moment, but he shuts his eyes and throws his arms around Franks large frame. Just for a second. Before turning away and heading downstairs to Frank's car. 

Leo feels like his mind should be running, but it’s not. His hands aren’t tapping either. All he’s thinking about is going back to the place where his mom died and trying to find that missing piece, no matter how much it scares him. It’s consuming. Leo almost doesn’t realize Frank get in beside him. 

“I called the others.” Frank relays, taking his keys back from Leo. “They’ll be here soon.”

Leo nods. “Thanks.”

Jason and Piper arrive first, together. Leo can tell Frank gave them some kind of pep talk because neither of them probe for information. A few minutes later, Annabeth arrives and climbs into the backseat. She probably got the pep talk too, but she chooses to ignore it. 

“Leo, can I ask one question?” she asks, gently. 

Leo glances back at her. “Yeah.”

“What are you looking for at the garage?”

Leo doesn’t really know one exact thing, but he starts talking anyways, sure the answer will come out one way or another. 

“The, uh, thing my mom was hiding is part of the big machine, I think. So I guess going there, where she-” his voice cracks a little, but he shakes his head out. “Where she spent her time might tell us something?”

It’s a weak reason, but Leo knows in his heart it’s deeper than that. And that going back will give him a lot more than he can explain. 

She nods. “Frank, can we make a pit stop then?”

Frank furrows his brows. “Uh sure? Just tell me where.”

Annabeth rattles out an address and Frank taps it into his phone. And just like that they begin the drive, just as the sun starts to set. Leo looks out his window, feeling strangely numb to the situation. Sure, his skin feels hot, hotter than it has in a long time, but his mind is trying to keep him from processing. It’s probably a self preservation instinct on Leo’s account, because if he started full on baby crying in front of the people in this car he might just die of embarrassment. So, he only thinks about the mission. How this can help. 

It’s only about a ten minute drive before Frank is pulling over in front of a small dimly lit house. 

“This the place?”

Annabeth nods. 

A second later, Nico steps out onto the front porch, and only Jason seems to register what a big deal that is. 

“Annabeth!” he says, eyes wide and jaw set. “Please explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to pick up a non-super when none of us are in costume?” 

“Jason-”

“On an incredibly emotional night for all of us? And out of the three- why Nico? I’m sorry but he hasn’t exhibited any skills or knowledge to convince me he should even be-”

“Jason.” Annabeth says, cutting him off. “He’s not a non-super. Nico’s like us.”

The car falls silent, just as Nico pulls at the door, and steps inside. He takes a seat beside Annabeth.

“It’s weird to see you all out of costume.” he comments, buckling his seat belt. “I didn’t think you would all look so normal. Or to be honest, so attractive.”

Everyone continues to stare, especially Leo, trying to figure out how this guy in the ratty black hoodie somehow has superpowers. 

It’s only then that Nico seems to register everyone gawking at him. 

“What?”

“You’re super?” Leo asks, in disbelief. 

Nico raises his eyebrows, glancing over at Annabeth, before returning his gaze to Leo. 

“I wouldn’t call myself super, but yeah, I do have a sort of ” he seems to search for the right word before settling on- “unusual set of powers.”

“Nico and I met through a mutual friend.” Annabeth explains. “Both of us could tell the other one was a bit strange, and we found out it’s because both of us were kind of super.”

“Why didn’t you ask him to join the team?”

Nico bites down on his lip. “My powers aren’t exactly the kind that help you fight crime and save the world.”

Jason bites the bullet. “Well what are they?”

Nico sighs and lets his gaze fall on Leo, meeting his stare.

“I can communicate with the dead.”

That hits Leo like a freight train. Piper quickly reaches up and slips her hand into Leo’s, which he’s grateful for. Without Piper sending those huge waves of calm and rational energy, Leo is sure he would’ve broken down at what Nico is suggesting just by being here with those powers. He thinks this is why he felt that pull towards Nico. Deep down, somehow he knew he could bring him close to his mom. 

“So you’re saying-” Leo manages, looking back up at Nico, giving him that calm gaze. “Y-you can talk to my mom?”

Nic nods, gently. “And if you want to, I can help you talk to her too.”

Leo’s heart beats hard against his chest. He wants nothing more than to talk to his mom. To curl up at her side and tell her about college and the fact he has friends for the first time in his life, and how sad and stupid that world has been without her. He wants so desperately to see her, but he’s scared. Scared she’ll be upset with him. Scared she’ll not know anything and this horrible dip into Leo’s past will all be for nothing. 

Leo stares at Nico with his reassuring gaze, and agrees. “Okay.”

The rest of the drive is pretty quiet, sans some scattered conversations here and there. Leo stays silent, trying to compose himself as his mind runs through a million scenarios and his skin continues to climb in temperature. 

An hour passes by far too quickly, as Frank pulls into the city limits of their hometown. A lump forms in Leo’s throat as he drives by his old school, the park he played at when he was little, and finally the turn onto the garage’s street. Frank slows to a halt in front of the charred black husk of a building, and everyone slowly starts to unbuckle their seat belts. Everyone but Leo, who feels frozen in place. 

“Guys.” Leo blurts. “I’m scared.”

“It’s okay to be scared.” Frank says, looking over at Leo. “Almost everything we do scares me. But I do it because I know that you guys are all there with me.”

“We’re all here with you, Leo.” Piper affirms. 

Leo takes a second for himself, and then nods. 

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

*

Jason goes in first, making sure everything is safe. Annabeth follows him with Nico in tow, and finally, Leo enters with Piper and Frank by his side. 

Leo holds his breath as he steps through the space where the door once was. 

Everything looks… exactly the same. Sure, it’s burnt and black and chipping away, but it’s the same place Leo grew up in. He tries his best to imagine what it used to look like, before all the damage. 

Nico soon appears at his side, offering his hands. “Come with me?”

Leo nods, and slips his hands into Nico’s, allowing Nico to walk him over to the center of the room. 

“Your hands are really warm.” Nico says, presumably trying to lighten Leo’s mood.

“Yours are cold as fuck.” Leo manages, with a hint of a smile appearing on his worried face. 

Nico chuckles. “What do they say about guys with cold hands? Is it cold hands, big-?”

Leo lets out a surprised laugh. “Are you flexing your dick game right now?”

“Course not. Big heart.” Nico replies. “Sorry, just trying to relax you. I don’t want you to be scared.”

Leo glances around at his friends there, and at Nico’s reassuring grip on his hands. 

“I’m not.” he says truthfully. “I’m-I’m okay.”

Nico smiles. “Do you trust me?”

Leo nods. 

“Okay then. I’ll need your mom’s name, if that’s alright.”

“Esperanza.”  
Nico takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes. 

“Esperanza.” he says. “We’d like to talk to you. I’m here with your son Leo and his friends. They need your help. If it’s alright with you, I’m going to bring you to us, okay?”

At Nico’s words, the room around them starts to react. Air rushes in through the smashed windows, the ashy dust starts to sweep away, and metal clangs together as it pushes itself aside. Leo’s watches Nico concentrating so hard that a ghostly gray hue covers his entire body. Leo’s eyes widen, almost expecting his new friend to go up in smoke, but he doesn’t. He opens his eyes, his irises having turned from brown to white, and the room stops. 

It’s almost like nothing has changed as Leo stares at the ghost-like Nico in front of him, but then a voice comes from behind Leo. 

“Mijo?” 

Leo turns around slowly. His eyes well up with tears as he sees his mom standing there. She’s tinted greyish-blue like Nico, but it’s really her. 

“Mom.” 

“I’m so happy to see you.” she says, stepping a little bit closer. As she does so, her arm passes through the desk. “I know you have so many questions, and you’re probably really mad at me for that night, but-”

“I’m not mad.” he says, quickly, wiping under his eyes. “Of course, I’m not mad at you mama. I just hope you’re not mad at me.”

Esperanza sighs, a sad smile on her face. “I could never be mad at you. Everything that happened that night was my fault. Nothing to do with you.”

Leo feels an enormous weight lifting off his chest. A guilt he’s been carrying for a long time. 

“Mama, I’m trying to protect the city.” Leo says, resisting the urge to reach out and grab his mom’s hand. “Can you help me by telling me what you were hiding?”

She nods. “I can show you.”

She walks past Leo, to Nico. 

“This is a very handy young man, you’ve got here.” she says with a chuckle. Leo grins at the sound of his mom’s laugh, even if it elicits another round of tears from his eyes. She slips her hand into Nico’s, and a second later, the room explodes into a greyish tinted memory. 

Leo watches his mom, a lot younger than she was before, working on a car. She climbs into the front seat of the car to check the emergency break, but her hand happens upon a box with a scrawled message taped to the top.”

“I never normally looked through things left in a car.” Leo’s mom says, watching her own memory play out.”Usually I just set it behind the desk while we cleaned and then returned it, but something about this was different. The letter on the top said all these things about it being the final piece, and that this would help them get what they always wanted. It seemed bad.”

Leo’s sure it was bad. 

“Anyways, I kept it. I never opened the box, never really knew what it was for, but I hid it. I guess I thought I was saving people from something bad, even if I couldn’t be sure.”

The memory shifts, and Leo sees a memory of his own appear over the room. He’s young, really young, standing behind his mom as an angry Hera pulls up in her car and stomps to the front of the garage.  
“There was a personal item in this car when I dropped it off.” she says, sharply. Leo winces at her tone. “I take it back and it’s gone.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, ma’am.” his mom says, coolly. “Would you like to describe it for me?”

“I don’t need to describe something you so obviously stole. I knew that I shouldn't have trusted _people of your kind_ to look after my things.”

Leo watches his memory mom’s face harden. “Ma’am, I am sorry, but you will not come here and talk like that about me and my business because you misplaced something.”

Hera looks like she wants to rip Esperanza to shreds, but she doesn’t. 

“Fine. I’ll just shut you down, and when this garage is mine I'll take back what belongs to me. This won’t be the last you hear from me.”

The memory fades away, turning the garage back to its natural state. 

“She’s terrible, isn’t she?” Mom asks, turning back to Leo. 

He nods. 

“She kept coming back.” mom says, “but you know that. While I was alive I never found out what it was for but, well, when you die, I guess they try to give you some piece of mind on things you didn’t know.”

“You know what it’s for?”

She nods. “A big machine. Hera and a team from Olympus corp. developed it together in the 80’s. Apparently it was supposed to be able to turn a whole lot of people superhuman at once.” she explains. “She could create some kind of army to take over the world. But, they needed the piece I kept so everything got all discontinued, Apparently they made a smaller version to keep everything going. The smaller version was made sometime in the 90’s, and she’s been using it since, building the army up slowly. I believe she’ll use it on even more of the citizens on election day.”

Leo’s heart floods with an overwhelming amount of love for his mom. Even after he death, she has the ability to be there for him, and to give him all the answers he really needs to win.

“Thank you mama, thank you so much.” Leo says. He doesn’t even care at that moment, that she isn't fully there. He runs to her and wraps his arms tightly around her waist. 

To his surprise, her arms wrap back. Leo glances over her shoulder at Nico concentrating on holding his arms out like a hug. 

Leo shudders, and buries his face into her shoulder, reveling in the feeling of being in her arms for one last time. She squeezes him tight, and taps an I love on his back, just as Leo does for her. 

“I can’t hold this too long, Leo.” Nico warns, arms straining in their hold position. 

Leo lets out a breath and backs up. “That’s okay. Thank you for that.”

Nico smiles, letting his arms relax. 

Leo glances back at his mom, and she smiles. 

Leo grins, and glances around the room, remembering that there are other people in the room with them. 

“Mom, before you go.” he says, hopefully. “Can I introduce you to my friends?”

“I’d like that.”

Leo wipes at his eyes again and bounds over to bring Frank up. 

“You already know Frank.” 

Leo’s mom smiles. “Hi Frank. Nice to see you.”

Frank clears his throat, wiping a little at his eyes. “You too, Ms. Valdez. We miss you.”

She smiles sadly, reaching up to swipe her ring finger under her own eye. 

Leo looks back and Piper steps up next. 

“This is Piper.” Leo says, “she’s really cool and she’s a real actual girl that wants to be my friend.” 

Leo’s mom laughs. “I’m so happy for you, Mijo. Hi Piper.”

Piper is crying almost as much as Leo. “Hi.” she says. “I’m glad I get to meet you. Leo always tells us about how amazing you are.”

“I’m Annabeth.” Annabeth says, coming up beside Piper. “You have a pretty great son.”

“I do, don’t I?” Leo’s mom beams at him, and he feels so much happiness. More than he’s been capable of feeling for a long time. 

“And this is Jason.” 

Leo pulls his last friend up to his mom, and for some reason, her face falls. 

“Oh, sweetheart.” she says, frowning. “You’re the Grace boy.”

Jason furrows his brows. “Sorry, how do you know my last name?”

She furrows her brows as well. “Well after I, _you know_ , I saw what they did to you. I wish I could take it back.”

Jason looks to Leo with a worried gaze before looking back at Leo’s mom. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know? Your father-”

“I never knew my father.” Jason says, cutting her off. 

Leo’s mom gets a sad faraway look in her eyes. “You were so young. I shouldn’t be surprised that you don’t know who you are.”

Jason looks like internally, he's panicking, but his face is being held at gunpoint to keep cool. He clears his throat. “What do you mean?” he manages, voice firm. “Who am I?”

“The son of the Olympus corp. CEO. The one they tested the machine on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YA'LL. This chapter.  
> This has been my favorite chapter to write so far. I feel like it was such a culmination of everything Leo has been feeling and searching for since he started. Closure on a huge part of his story.  
> I am not going to lie, I got really emotional writing this and tears may have been shed, but I am just so proud of how far this story and these characters have come.  
> Also we LOVE a cliffhanger, a twist for the ages, so get excited for more unpacking of that in the future.  
> Thank you all so so much for all your comments and kudos you are wonderful.  
> New chapter up next week!


	15. Jason breaks down

In that moment, the world around them seems to fall still. Everyone is holding their breath, eyes trained on Jason, waiting for him to react. In true Jason fashion, he doesn’t. Well, not at first. He sets his jaw and stares at the wall. To the untrained eye, one could assume that Jason is fine. He’s processing things, but he’s going to be fine. But Leo knows better. He’s felt this exact tension before. Anger, guilt, confusion burning up inside you. Unsteady breathing, fists gripping tight, and tears trying to fight their way out. Leo can see Jason is tearing himself up inside, which is exactly what Leo did after his mom died. Jason was there for him when he blew, now Leo needs to return the favor. 

“Mama,” Leo says quietly, his eyes still trained on Jason. “I need to help my friends now.”

She nods. “I understand. You do what’s right.”

Leo gives her one final glance. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” she says. “Maybe Nico can help you visit me again sometime.”

“I’d like that.”

And with a final goodbye, Nico breaks his concentration, and Leo’s mom fades to black. Leo doesn’t dwell on the goodbye. For the first time since she died, Leo feels whole again. Not sad or hurt, no angry with himself and the world. All of his energy at this moment is focused on Jason, still frozen in place. 

Piper steps tentatively towards Jason. She reaches up to set a hand on his arm and her eyes widen.

“Guys, he’s not good. He’s really really not good.”

“Jason, look at me.” Leo asks, calmly. “Please.”

“I wasn’t born with my powers.” Jason grits out. His voice sounds like its at war with his throat. “I was a test subject. A deal made between my father and our mortal enemy.”

Leo wants to console him, but he has no fucking clue what to say in a situation like this. 

“I’m one of them.” Jason continues, knuckles turning white as his fists grip tighter. “I’ve been working my whole life to fight against them and this whole time I’ve been a pawn to the other side.”

“You are _not_ a pawn, Jason.” Piper says firmly, trying to catch his gaze. He avoids it. 

“Yes I am, Piper.” he says, voice dangerously quiet. “Don’t you understand? I’m one of _them._ I wasn’t made to be this big hero! All these powers were supposed to do was help Hera get one step closer to ruining our lives.”

Piper holds his arm closer to her and Jason lets her. Leo’s almost a hundred percent sure that Piper is the only thing keeping Jason from exploding. 

“It’s my fault.” Jason murmurs. “Everything is my fault. This all started with me.”

“Leo, how do we calm him down?” Frank asks, nervously. 

Leo glances over at Frank for a second before turning his gaze back to Jason.

“We don’t.” Leo tells him, staring forward at Jason. “We have to let him freak.”

Frank gives a bewildered gaze, but he trusts Leo enough to listen. He steps back towards the wall. Annabeth and Nico do the same. 

Jason is still murmuring under his breath, and Piper is speaking into his ear, her hands running soothingly down his arm. Each time her hand crosses over him, a muscle relaxes, only to tense up again once she passes. Leo can see how hard she is trying to calm him. To make sure he’s okay, and it kind of breaks Leo’s heart to pull her away. But he knows he has to. 

“Piper, you need to let go of him.”

“No, that’s a bad idea.” she says, a little frazzled. “I’ve got him don’t worry.”

“Piper.” Leo says, more firmly this time. 

She looks at Leo, giving him a desperate look. 

“But if I do then he’ll-” her voice trails off. 

“I know. Let him.”

Piper gives a weak nod. She leans in and presses a kiss to Jason’s cheek before releasing her grip, and running back towards Leo. 

Leo catches her in his arms, just as Jason breaks down.

*

It happens all at once. Jason lets out a wail of anguish. The room shakes from the impact of him dropping to his knees and ramming his fists into the ground. The concrete floor cracks at the punches, and Piper curls into Leo’s chest unable to watch. Leo glances around the room to see Annabeth and Frank keeping their eyes averted as well. Leo understands. As much as they all wanted Jason to feel his feelings, they never wanted it to happen like this. Jason tries to land another punch into the ground, but as his fist collides with the cement, it makes a sickening crunch. 

Jason cries out in pain, pulling his hand up to his chest. Leo wants to run up to him to help, but surprisingly, someone beats him to it. 

Leo watches intently as Nico pulls off his hoodie and runs to Jason, grabbing his now bloodied fist and quickly wrapping it up. 

“Hey hey hey.” Nico says, voice incredibly calm. “We have to stop that. This is fucking hard, I know that, but we’re not going to let you hurt yourself on top of the hurt you’re already feeling.”

Jason avoids his gaze, chest heaving with effort, but he doesn’t make a move to get away. 

Leo is really really impressed with Nico. He thinks he must have a track record of working with people in pain, as bringing back the dead isn’t the cheeriest power on earth, but still. He’s really good at making people feel like they’re not alone. 

Leo holds Piper a little tighter against him and makes the move forward. She lets him. They kneel down beside Jason who looks so vulnerable, and sad, and tired, it physically hurts Leo. Annabeth and Frank follow suit. 

All of them make sure there’s some kind of contact with Jason. Frank has a hand pressed to his back, Annabeth has her side against his, Nico with the hand, Leo’s at his elbow, and Piper hands are perched gently on his thigh. 

“You don’t have to talk right now.” Leo affirms, trying to throw in something supportive. “We can talk whenever you’re ready. I don’t care if it’s in ten minutes, tomorrow, or in thirty years. I just want you to know that we all want to be here for you.”

Leo catches Nico’s eye, as the smaller boy gives him an approving smile. So, he keeps going. 

“And I know that you feel like you have to be this all knowing, always dependable, level headed leader guy, which you are, but it doesn’t have to be like that all the time, dude. You feel shit, we all do, and you just need to know we want to hear about it. We care about you, every part of you.”

“Even the parts you don’t like.” Piper chimes in, eyes rimmed red. “Even the parts you didn’t know about that make you doubt yourself.”

Jason doesn’t say anything, but he does let out a long steady breath, which Leo has decided to take as a good sign. 

“Someone needs to look at his hand.” Nico says. “With that amount of force, I’m sure it’s broken, but I don’t know shit about medical stuff. 

“I can look.” Annabeth says. “Does anyone have a light?”

Without thinking, Leo lights up the tip of his pointer finger and holds it close to Jason’s hand. 

Eyes widen around the circle. Leo looks up at his friends’ faces, feeling incredibly confused until- oh. 

He used his powers. Without even thinking about it, he used them. Warmth floods in Leo’s chest, a renewed sense of confidence, and his friends are in awe. Leo had almost forgotten that they’ve never seen him use fire before. But it’s not about Leo, right now. It’s about Jason. Leo holds his hand closer, as Annabeth unties the black hoodie, now matted with blood. 

Jason winces as she exposes his hand to the cold air. It looks terrible. Bruises splotch the entire back of his hand, and blood still pours from the open cuts on his knuckles. 

“Sorry J.” Annabeth murmurs before gripping his hand and checking for breaks. Jason makes a hurt noise and turns to the side to bury his head in Piper’s shoulder. She quickly catches him, wrapping her arms around his neck to hold her to him. 

“It’s definitely broken. In multiple places. I think he’s a good healer, and his body can just fix it up over time, but it would be much better to have a cast.”

“Hospital?” Frank asks. 

Annabeth shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Then there’d be explanations to give and traces on us.”

“My roommate can help, but he’s back in the city.” Nico says. “Can he handle waiting that long?”

“He can handle it.” 

The group is surprised, but without a doubt, the quiet response was from Jason. He glances up with a stoic expression. “Let’s go.”

*

It takes some effort to get Jason up and going, but they manage to hoist him up and help him out to the car, Leo and Frank under his arms. Piper holds tightly to his hand and the three of them get Jason as smoothly as possible into the backseat. 

Piper climbs in beside him, and Nico follows, sitting in the next closest row. Annabeth on the other hand, makes no move to return to her previous seat. 

Instead, she asks, “Can I drive?”

Frank raises his eyebrows. “Not fond of my driving?”

“No.” Annabeth says quickly, “I mean, you’re a little slow but I just- I just like to keep my mind preoccupied.”

Frank nods and hands over his keys to Annabeth before taking the passenger seat, leaving Leo to be shoved in the back with the others. 

“Nico, we’re going back to yours, I assume?”

“Yeah. I’ll text Will.”

For the first twenty minutes of the drive, everything is quit. Everyone is still hyper sensitive to Jason and everything that just went down. Jason is still sitting quietly, eyes closed, holding onto Piper’s hand. Leo’s not sure if it’s because Jason is worn out from his breakdown or Piper is sending sleepy vibes to him through her hand holding, but as the car drives on, Jason’s head slumps farther onto Piper’s shoulder. 

Finally Piper breaks the silence with: “Okay, he’s asleep.”

“Well.” Frank says, “We have a long list of things to unpack after that.”

That’s for sure, Leo thinks. Like where do they even begin-

“I can’t fucking believe they tested their crazy machine on Jason.”

Okay. Guess we’re starting there. 

“He was a CHILD. It could’ve killed him.” Piper says, angrily. “And I know that he seemed to block it out but do you have any idea how much that stuff has subconsciously affected him? His aggressive need to prove himself worthy of those powers, him holding so tight on the reigns of the group because it's something he could control? God, it just makes me so mad.”

Hearing Piper talk starts to get Leo angry too. How unfair this is. 

“Jason has never once thought about himself, he put other people first his whole life only to find out that he was created to hurt others.”

That snaps Leo out of his trance. “That’s not true.” he argues. “All the good he’s done doesn’t get erased because of where his powers came from.”

“But _he_ will think of it that way. You know it. I know it.” Piper shoots back. “Being vulnerable with us wasn’t a choice and he barely survived that. The guilt and regret of the entire situation might kill him.”

“What are we going to do without him?”

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Leo says, “Who said anything about doing this without Jason?”

“I mean look at him Leo!” Annabeth shoots back. “You can’t look at our de facto leader who is near catatonic with a broken hand and think he’s going to be good as new tomorrow.”

Leo shakes his head. “Can we stop focusing on the negatives? Jesus, you guys are pessimistic.”

Frank sighs. “We’re being realistic.”

“Bullshit! You’re giving up because it’s getting hard.”

Leo doesn’t like getting angry with his friends, but sometimes he can’t help it. He feels like his friends are getting so close to slipping back to how they used to be, all distant and hopeless, and it drives him crazy. Leo feels like he just got re energized from tonight to kick Hera’s ass and somehow he has to get his friends back up to his level. 

The motivational super speech honestly rips out of him beyond his control. 

“What ae you all talking about? Would Jason want you to give up? Would Jason stop fighting for what’s right because something fights back? Most of all-- do you think he would gie up on a friends, fuck, even a stranger when they need help?”

Silence in response.

”Okay I’ll answer for you, fuck no he wouldn’t! Jason is a control freak, and he’s hard to read, and one of the nerdiest guys I know, but he didn’t bail on me when I was at the worst place in my life. And he never bailed on any of you either, so can we stop spewing negative bullshit and just relax?”

It’s quiet for a minute as Leo lets out a long breath, feeling the fire dulling under his skin. 

“If I relax, will you stop with these big speeches?” Annabeth asks. “I think I speak for everyone that upwards of three Leo speeches in a week is too many.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “Well, I didn’t see anyone else jumping in.” he mutters, crossing his arms. “Sorry, I’ll go back to being your regularly scheduled firebending practical joke right away.”

“Sorry Leo.” Frank sighs. “We’re just overwhelmed. It’s just all this Jason stuff, on top of everything we’ve got going on with school and Hera, it’s just hard to keep perspective. Ignore Annabeth, we appreciate your cringey hero speeches.”

Piper laughs. “We do. No matter how corny and weird they sound coming out of your mouth.” she says. “Jason appreciates them too. His mood is a lot calmer than it was before.”

*

Half an hour later, Annabeth pulls up in front of Nico’s house where they were just hours before. Although, everything feels different now. 

“You guys stay here.” Annabeth says, unbuckling her seatbelt. “Nico and I will sort everything out. Wake up Jason and we’ll be back for him in a second.”

“Hurry please.” Piper requests. “I think he’s still bleeding.”

Annabeth nods and her and Nico head up to the front door. 

Piper shakes Jason who jolts awake, glancing around disoriented and sad looking, before melting back into that familiar stoic expression. Frank and Leo once again throw Jason’s arms over their shoulders and help the big guy to the door where Nico’s roommate is holding the door. 

“Jesus,” the blonde says, “Is that Nico’s hoodie?”

Leo grunts as he lifts Jason through the door. “We didn’t have anything else.”

Blondie rolls his eyes. 

“Whatever, I’ve been trying to get him out of the thing anyways. Bring him into the kitchen.”

Leo steps into the house and takes a second to take in his surroundings. 

It’s a pretty standard college house. Big tv with game consoles all attached, a messy but comfy looking couch and a small kitchen in the corner. Frank and Leo head to the kitchen and set Jason down in the too small chair at the too small table. It’s probably an average set for Nico and his pushy roommate who lack super strength as Leo does, but Jason just looks hulking sitting there. It’s like when a teacher sits at one of those kindergarten chairs. If Jason didn’t look so weak, Leo might have laughed. 

“Bert and Ernie, mind if I get in there?” Will asks, shoving himself in between Frank and Leo. “I usually work better when I can see what I’m fixing.”

“Relax Doogie, we’re moving.”

“Don’t give him that much credit.” Nico says, settling onto the couch. “Doogie is generous. He’s barely pre-med.”

Will rolls his eyes. “Listen are we going to insult me more or do you want me to fix your friend’s hand?”

“Fix his hand, please.”

Piper and Frank hover over Jason while Will gets to work on Jason’s hand. Leo opts to join Nico on the couch, as looking at Jason’s mangled hand isn’t the most appealing thing in Jason’s mind. 

Besides, Leo still has some stuff he wants to say to Nico. Mushy stuff he didn’t really want to say in front of the others. 

“My roommate is a real ray of sunshine, isn’t he?” Nico chuckles as Leo sits down. 

“I _am_ a ray of sunshine thank you very much.” Will says, not looking up from Jason’s hand. 

“So..” Leo starts. Nico glances over at him, waiting for him to continue. “I didn’t get to thank you for before.”

Nicor raises an eyebrow, a half smile curling onto his lips. “Thank me?”

Leo rolls his eyes. He can tell Nico is going to milk Leo’s vulnerability for all its worth. 

“Yes thank you. And yeah I’m getting tired of getting sappy all the time but this is about my mom, so I’m allowing one last break in my sexy confident masculine persona.” Leo says, trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks. “So thanks for helping me see her again. You don’t know what it meant to me.”

Nico smiles, a little softer than before. “You don’t have to thank me.” he says. “Seriously don’t. It’s literally the least I can do with these powers.”

Leo smiles too and bumps Nico’s shoulder with his. Nico pulls his sleeves up over his hands a little more and bumps Leo back.   
Their heads are turned at the sound of footsteps from the other side of the room. Standing in the doorway with tousled black hair is.. The guy that helped Leo out of the pond that day he discovered his fire powers. 

He glances around with his eyebrows furrowed, as if he had just realized there were five new people in his apartment. He remains confused until his eyes settle on Annabeth, who quickly heads towards him and sets her hands on his shoulders. 

“Annabeth, what-”

“Hey, I’ll explain later.” she says, gently pressing him back towards the bedroom. “Just hang out and I’ll be there in a second, Perce.”  
He scratches his head, but seems to listen to her. He nods and leans in to press a swift kiss to her cheek and _oh_ this is Percy from the phone call. 

Percy disappears back into his room and Annabeth turns on her heels, face flushed. 

“Don’t say a word.” she says, “We’re focused on Jason, not me.”

Reluctantly the room complies. Leo and Nico hop up and join the hovering ranks with Frank and Piper. 

Will has made quick work. Jason’s hand looks pretty banged up, but it’s much better. He’s cleaned up all the blood, and has ointment on all open wounds. 

“I don’t have a cast.” Will says, “because I’m 19 and I have a weak income, so I’ll do my best to bandage but I think you should still get him a cast. A cast is needed to mend the bones.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Annbeth assures. 

“What happened to him anyway?”

Jason curls his fist. “Nothing.” he says, speaking his first word in over an hour. “Don’t worry about it.”

Will raises his hands in the air. “Sorry I asked.”

“It’s fine.” Jason murmurs. “Thank you for fixing me up.”

Will waves it away. “It’s good practice.”

Jason glances up over to Piper and the rest of them standing around him. 

“Can we go home?”

“Yeah. We can go home.”

*

By home, obviously, they all meant Piper’s apartment. After thanking Will and Nico, the fivesome piles back into Frank’s car to head home. Since Will mentioned Jason needing a cast, Leo had been thinking about how could help. He hadn’t built anything in awhile, and his fingers and his mind tingle with anticipation for creating something for his friend. Leo still hasn’t really figured out how to address Jason about his situation, so he thinks this is the most Leo way he can support Jason. Once they get to Piper’s Jason stands up on his own and heads in. They follow him, and before they can even think about how to gauge the topic with Jason, he takes the patient files from Leo and locks himself in Piper’s bedroom. 

“Should we go after him?” Frank asks, staring at the door closed in his face. 

Piper shakes her head. “I think just give him space? Not much we can do anyways with the door locked.”

“Well I can break it down if you want.

”No no no. Seriously, at least for awhile, I think we should leave him.”

So they do. Operation leave Jason on his own for awhile so he can grieve is a go. 

Piper and Annabeth head into the kitchen to make up some dinner, while Frank settles onto the couch, flicking onto netflix. Leo probes Piper for some scrap metal, and she happily delivers some cans, a broken lock, earrings, and some keyrings. Leo thanks her and makes his own mini workshop in the corner of the living room, trying to keep himself productive while waiting for Jason to be ready to open up. It might take days for him to come out, but Leo is determined to be there waiting for him when he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter hell yeah bois.  
> This is gonna be a hard pill to swallow for Jason. His friends really don't know how to support him in this situation, so the next couple of chapter are really going to highlight him trying to deal with these feelings and be able to communicate with the people around him about his hurt for the first time.  
> After this plotline is resolved we really are getting into the home stretch!  
> Thank you all for your continuous support and I hope you continue to read and enjoy :)  
> New chapter up next week!


	16. Do you really think your powers are what made you a hero?

“It’s been hours. Should we be worried? Because I’m worried.”   
“We’re all worried, Frank, but what can we do?”

Leo is half listening to the conversation but he’s tired, and his last few brain cells that are working are devoted to his current project. It’s taking him longer than usual. Leo had taken for granted what it is like making stuff with tools and good quality metal. He’s been using some pliers and his flames to try and meld things into place, but it’s proving difficult. This is frustrating for Leo because he needs for this gadget to work out. He wants to show Jason that he’s there for him and if he gives him a shoddy metal glove, it won’t really convey what Leo is going for. 

The conversation carries on, but all Leo is focused on is melting the metal into finger shape. That is, until he hears the lock on Piper’s door click. 

Their heads shoot up. Jason makes no move to come out, but the message was clear. He’s allowing someone to come in. 

“Who’s going to go in?” Frank asks. “Leo?”

Leo tenses. “No, I’m not ready.” he says, shaking his head. “I uh, want this to be done before I see him.”

Piper breathes in deeply. “I’ll go.”

No one protests. Piper pours a cup of tea and squares her shoulders before entering her room to see Jason. 

And like no one was expecting, Piper is out of the room in less than five minutes, all the confidence drained from her face. 

“How is he?”

Piper gives a weak shrug. “Fine. He’s fine.”

Annabeth furrows her brows. “What do you mean he’s fine?”

Piper’s eyes get a little misty. “He uh, he said he’s come to terms with everything and he’s okay, but-” she cuts herself off. “But he’s not going to use his powers again.”

Leo’s eyes widen, but no one has a chance to say anything before Annabeth gets up and storms into the room, shutting the door behind her. Everything is quiet.    
Ten minutes later she steps out, wind blown out of her sails. She raises Jason’s Metal Man goggles weakly. “He said that I should have them.” she says, flatly. “Told me that superheroes don’t have to cover up their scars with a mask.”

“And?”

She sighs. “And I tried to give them back, but he said he’ll never need them again.”

“Okay this is getting ridiculous.” Leo says, running a hand through his hair. “Why is he giving away his stuff like he just got told his own death date? Jason’s trying to write a freaking superhero will right in front of us!”

“Leo, you go in and talk to him.”

Leo glances back at his in-process present for Jason and frowns. 

“I-I can’t. Not yet. Frank can you go first? Please?”

Frank bites his lip but nods. “I don’t know what good I’ll do, but I’ll do it.”

He heads in, and Leo hurriedly tries to finish his gift for his friend. 

Thankfully, Frank takes a long time. He lasts longer than both of the girls combined. Leo’s not surprised. He thinks that of the group, Jason and Frank are the most similar. Both err on the side of caution and control, and as of their newest revelation, both come from a place where their powers were forced upon them by their families. Leo’s sure they have a lot to talk about. But like the other two, Frank does eventually return from the room, less confident than when he entered. 

He shrugs. “I talked to him. I tried to tell him that he’s a hero, and it doesn’t matter where he got his powers, but I don’t really think I got it through his head. Once he lands on something, he tends to stick you know?”

The group nods. And then, all eyes turn to Leo. 

He’s not stupid. He knows that since Jason went out of commission, the group has been looking to him to be the de facto leader. He doesn’t really know how he feels about it. Sure he loves the attention, and people looking up to him and stuff but the feeling he’ll let them down is omnipresent. Leo doesn’t see himself being able to sway Jason. All he’s got is the corny inspirational speech everyone has already heard and halfheartedly agreed to a dozen times, and a mediocre metal glove that he worked on for hours and still won’t be able to convey how much Leo wants to be there for Jason in this time. 

“Are you going in now?”

But without much to lose, Leo brave faces it for his friends. 

“Yeah, I’m going in.”

*

Jason is a site for sore eyes. When Leo walks into the room and sees Jason laying back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, he feels like he hasn’t seen the guy in years. 

Jason glances over at him and gives Leo a smile before glancing back up at the ceiling. He looks nowhere near as wrecked as he did last time Leo saw him, but he still doesn’t look well.

“Hey.” Leo says, stepping further into the room. 

“Hey.” Jason responds. Leo can see that he has the patient A file clutched at his chest still, and it makes him feel a little more sad about the whole situation. 

“I would ask how it’s going, but this has been a shitty day and our friends told me you’re pretty much having a quarter life crisis.”

Jason stays quiet. 

“And I don’t blame you.” Leo says quickly, coming to sit on the bed next to Jason. “This is the worst situation ever. But I think that trying to give up being a superhero over it- it’s just complete shit.”

Jason gives a humorless laugh. “Is it? Or is it shit that I only have powers as a means of serving the antagonist in this story? I think that removing myself from the equation is the only solution. If I were to stay and fight, what kind of hero would I be?”

“A good one, Jason!” Leo urges. “How the hell does abandoning the city when it needs you and when  _ we  _ need you fix this problem?”   
“I don’t expect you to understand.”

Leo doesn’t know how his friends remained so quiet talking to Jason when he’s being so stubborn. Leo is probably the worst at controlling his feelings and opinions, rivaling Annabeth, so he’s not afraid to tell Jason like it is. 

“And you shouldn’t! I don’t know shit about what you’re feeling Jason. You get hit with an emotional information pipe bomb and then lock yourself away for hours and hours and decide you’re quitting being super? How am I supposed to understand anything you’re thinking? I’m not a mind reader! Annabeth and Frank aren’t mind readers! Piper can kind of, but that’s beside the point. You are leaving us in the cold as much as you’re leaving yourself. Because I’m pretty sure the only reason you’ve come to this crazy decision is because you don’t want to face Hera and all the stuff that you just learned about how you became super.”   
Leo breathes deeply through his nose after spilling all that out, waiting for a cold response from Jason. A response where he thanks Leo for being a good friend, or gives him his suit or something. 

Instead, Jason’s eyes get kind of misty. 

“You know, I remember it now.” he says quietly. “After your mom said told me, it was like all these memories I’d been repressing for years came flooding back to me.”

Leo’s breath catches at Jason’s admission. 

“I think I was around five years old. My mom used to drop me off at my dad’s when he still wanted to see me. Well- I guess use me is a more appropriate term.” Jason says, anguish written all over his face. “He would take me to work and I would sit up in the corner of his office with a ball or a book and just watch him. That happened every single time. Except for the last time. We didn’t go to his office, we went down on the elevator instead. It was to some basement that looked almost like a doctors office. I  _ remember  _ the machine, Leo. I remember seeing it and now when I think about all those blueprints we found I want to kick myself for not recognizing any of it. How could I have not recognized it when I’ve been in it myself?”   
Jason’s voice is steady, but Leo can feel each and every word Jason says press at his heart like Piper’s magic. Leo almost feels like he’s there, watching a young Jason subjected to this.

“When I was in there, I felt like I was dying. I didn’t know what dying felt like, but with the injection in my arm, and all the pressure, and how hard it was for me to breathe I didn’t know if I was going to survive. They didn’t know if I was going to survive either, but they did it anyways.”

Jason turns onto his side to look Leo in the eyes. 

“I just- I’ve never felt so helpless, Leo. I tried so hard to do everything right. I tried to be the hero and step into the place that was set out for me. I tried to take the powers I thought were given to me for being that hero people needed. I just- I honestly can’t explain to you how it feels to know that something I thought made me a hero actually means nothing more than a test to help Hera take over the world.”

And there it is. Leo realizes the corny speeches and the anger won’t work on Jason. They won’t work because if he continues to think his powers are the only reason he is the super protector he is today, then he might as well just quit. 

“Do you really think your powers are what made you a hero?” Leo asks. “Because I can tell you without a doubt-- they’re not.”

Leo pulls the metal glove forward into his lap, and pulls Jason’s arm just close enough to slip the glove on over his injured hand. 

“It’s not going to fix everything.” Leo says, referring to Jason’s hand, and maybe some of the other stuff, “But I think it’s a pretty good start to building you back up.”

Jason closes his newly gloved hand into a fist, before opening it up again. 

“Thank you.” Jason says, laying back to look up at the ceiling once again. 

Leo nods. “Think about what I said, okay?”

Jason nods back, not moving his gaze from the ceiling. 

And Leo leaves.   
*

“So, I don’t think he’s back on the team yet.” Leo admits to Piper. Her shoulders slump. “But- I do think that we’re getting closer. He told me stuff. Stuff that he would never have said before all of this.”

Piper furrows her brows. “Like what?”

Leo shrugs. “Like- emotional stuff.” Piper raises her eyebrows at that. “Stuff I didn’t really know what to do with so I kind of just yelled at him and gave him the glove and it might have worked?”   
Piper can’t help but laugh a little bit. “I’m glad actually.” she says. “No one has given Jason shit in awhile and I think it helps him. Makes him think a little bit more.”

“Fingers crossed.”

Piper lets out a small sigh and pulls Leo in for a hug. Leo melts into her touch, feeling the tension seep out of his body as he does so.

“I don’t know what we’d do without you.” Piper mumbles. “You fix things. You make us work.”

Leo holds her a little tighter. He contemplates agreeing with her, praising his own handiwork, but he doesn’t.

“Couldn’t do any of it without you guys.” he mumbles back. “You know that.”

She laughs. A sounds that makes Leo smile. 

“Seriously.” he says. “We all deserve a fucking party. I can guarantee that no other 20somethings in this city are dealing with as much shit as we are.”

“I completely agree.” Piper says, finally pulling back from the hug to look at Leo. “It’s like I have a paper due tomorrow but we also have a date to save the city in what, two weeks? I just want to be normal for a second. I want to go to a party.”

What Leo wouldn’t give to be normal for a second. These past couple of weeks have been the most super-heavy, emotionally taxing of his life! And his friends’ lives. I mean seriously, no one made it through this without at least one identity crisis or breakdown. If just for one night they could all ignore everything that’s going on at the moment and have some fun, Leo thinks they would all feel a lot better. 

“Well then who can we get to throw us a party?”

A glint passes over Piper’s eyes. That looks she gets when her and Leo both come up with a maybe stupid but usually effective plan to help their friends. 

“My friend Drew always throws these huge parties but I feel like she has something this weekend.” Piper offers, trying to rack her brain. “You got anything?”

Leo gives a shrug. “You guys and Hazel are literally my only friends, I’m probably the worst person to ask.”   
Piper chuckles. “Well we’re not having it here because I don’t want to do any work.”

And then Leo can literally see the thought pass into Piper’s head. She grabs his hand and Leo feels excitement course through his veins as she pulls him into the living room where Annabeth and Frank are watching netflix. 

“What are the odds your boyfriend will throw us a party?”

Annabeth wrinkles her nose at the referral of Percy as her boyfriend, but she shrugs. “I’d say very high. Why?”   
“Because Leo and I are requesting an official “be normal” day for us. No super stuff, no emo shit, just fun, and going to a party is like quintessential normal college student shit.”

Annabeth shrugs. “Okay. I’m down with that. I’ll text him.”

Piper and Leo high five. 

“Who’s going to get Jason to come out with us?” Frank asks. 

Piper rolls her eyes. “Me. And please, this will be the easiest thing to convince Jason of. We won’t be goading him about super stuff so it’ll be a nice break for him too.”

She turns on her heels and heads into the Jason room. She comes back a minute later with him in tow. 

“See?” she says with a coy smile. 

“So… party tonight?”

Annabeth glances up from her phone with a smile. “Party tonight.”

*   
After the decision is made, all of the team sans Piper pile back into Frank’s car to return to their respective homes. The past twenty-four hours have been a whirlwind. Leo and his friends traveled all over the surrounding area and experienced every viable human emotion, so getting back to his own dorm and flopping onto his bed is one of the greatest feelings in the world. On account of being up all night, he instantly passes out, only to wake from his slumber about four and a half hours later. Frank is still asleep when he does so, so Leo tiptoes over to his desk and takes a toaster strudel from the box Frank gifted him, before hopping back up to his bunk. There are about three SoCal Supernatural episodes Leo has missed, so he decides to pop in his headphones and check in on what Connor has to say. He chuckles a little as he clicks on the oldest one entitled “I’M OFFICIALLY A MEMBER OF THE SUPER SQUAD.”

As the title suggests, Connor details his interactions with Frank and being asked to join the super team, as well as their meeting. Obviously all the important stuff is glossed over because they asked Connor to keep stuff pretty secret, but it’s very enjoyable to hear how the average citizen kind of sees him and his friends. It’s hard to really remember what they look like on the outside to the citizens all exempt form the knowledge of the groups inner turmoil. 

“And I can’t even say enough about Metal Man. I mean you guys know, I’m a Fire Boy guy through a through, he’s so funny and kind of scrappy in the way where he could be like a guy you went to high school with turning out to be a superhero, but Metal Man is something else. Meeting him was like meeting superman. Like you could tell he just radiated like pure heroic intentions and leader-like energy.”

Connor fades out into a tangent about Opia being really hot up close, but his words about Jason reverb in Leo’s brain. It’s true. Jason’s entire being, powers or not, is always focused on the pursuit of safety and happiness of others. Leo knows he can’t talk about this to Jason today, as their pact was made, but Leo makes a note to show him this. Leo grins when he realizes the next episode is an interview with Hazel. They talk about election night in a conspiracy sense, and a real sense, urging the younger generation of people, specifically Caltech students, to come out and fight against the re-election that night. It sparks a fire in Leo’s stomach as he hears them talk. It makes him feel empowered, so he hopes it has the same effect on the rest of the city. It also makes Leo feel like he hasn’t seen Hazel in a really long time, and that upsets him. He’s about to jostle Frank awake to make him invite her to the party tonight, but is interrupted by a text from an unknown number at his phone. 

_ Can I invite Hazel and Connor to the party you’re throwing at my house or is that too close to home? _

It’s Nico, Leo determines. Because literally no one else would know those two and also likes Leo enough to text him. Leo adds in his contact and responds. 

**Leo**

_ Lol yeah. We’ll all just have to make sure that we don’t somehow all end up in some hero battle formation that’ll give us away.  _

**Nico**

_ Good plan.  _

**Nico**

_ Any particular reason you’ve decided to throw this party? _

Leo hesitates answering for a second, but Leo’s seen the whole team at their most vulnerable so he thinks their well past the point of playing it cool. 

**Leo**

_ Basically Jason wants to quit the team because of what we found out. We’re trying to have a night of not talking about super stuff to get some space away from the issue and just chill out for a second.  _

**Nico**

_ Wow. That’s intense. Hopefully we can offer a good enough party. Me, Will, and Percy aren’t exactly the best kind of guys for this. We’re more the “never leave the house and play a lot of mortal kombat” kind of guys.  _

Leo laughs, because he can tell that’s true. 

**Leo**

_ Don’t worry about it. If there’s alcohol and Piper there, it’ll probably be enough to get his mind off of things, at least for a while.  _

**Nico**

_ Oh so that’s a thing? Interesting.  _

**Leo**

_ Yup. _

**Nico**

_ Well, thanks. I’ll invite Connor and Hazel and I’ll see you tonight! _

**Leo**

_ See ya.  _

*

An hour after Leo has woken up and exhausted all the apps on his phone, Frank wakes up. 

“Finally. The snores were getting out of hand, dude.”

“You’re saying you don’t like it when I shake the room with my snoring?” Frank asks, getting up and brushing himself off. “Okay, noted.”

Leo chuckles a little to himself. Frank hitting him back with sarcasm is something he’s found he enjoys a lot more than Frank getting upset or self-critical as a result of Leo’s quips. 

“I think Hazel’s coming tonight.” Leo tells his roommate. 

“You know I could’ve invited my own girlfriend, you didn’t have to do it for me.”

“Hey, wasn’t me.” Leo says. “This was all Nico’s doing.”

Frank visibly relaxes at that.. “Okay that’s better.”

Leo can tell he’s still on edge about the whole Leo previously having feelings for Hazel. Leo says previously because he’s not really sure if they’re still there. He hasn’t seen her in so long, that it’s easy to forget that way she was nice to him, and made his skin light up like firecrackers. Leo really hopes that at the party tonight he can confirm to Frank that his feelings for his girlfriend lie in the past tense, but until then, he decides to keep his mouth shut. 

“So.” Leo says, making a detour to a different subject. “What are you wearing tonight?”

Frank raises an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I would say that out of the two of us one is clearly more fashion forward-”

“Me.” Frank and Leo say in unison. Both burst out laughing. 

“Seriously? Leo you wear the same three shirts and one pair of pants all the time, and they’re all partially singed by fire.”

Leo shrugs. “When you have a signature look, you stick to it!”

“I completely agree, which is why-”

“Why the turtleneck has made a comeback into 2019 solely through your wardrobe?”

Frank rolls his eyes, but quickly gets a devious grin on his lips. 

“Here’s a thought. I dress you, you dress me. Whoever gets more positive reception on the outfit wins.”

“Wins what?”

“A box of toaster strudel and the loser does all the laundry until election night.”

“Oh you’re so on.”

Half an hour later, Leo is feeling even warmer than usual in a maroon turtleneck, a patterned sweater, black jeans, and his combat boots that Frank suggested go with his look. He looks like Frank, which is a little bit funny, but even funnier considering Frank looks like him. A white shirt with the sleeves all rolled up, half tucked into some jeans, with Leo’s suspenders hanging down at his waist. 

“You look like me!”

“I look like knockoff Bruce Springsteen.”

“You act like I should know what he looks like off the top of my head.”

Frank tilts his head back and laughs. “Well I think we look great.”

“We can pull off anything.”

Leo checks the time, and since they have some hours to kill, Leo suggests they get some dinner. 

“We can also finish whatever show you were watching at Piper’s cause it seemed like you were into it.”

Frank’s eyes light up. This is probably a record, that Leo spoke a whole sentence with Frank, making plans with him, without one single joke at his expense. 

“I’d like that.”

And that’s what they do all the way up until it’s time to head to the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late update!  
>  I've been completely swamped this week with like literally no free time to write. Ugh remember the good old days where I used to have like five new chapters written at a time ready to post? Me too. I wish I could be there once again. 
> 
> Anyways, here is the new chapter! I'll admit it is a teensy bit filler because I feel like I have to re-establish relationships in our group after all the drama and stuff that's been happening lately. Like actually give the time to appreciate the character growth. Bottom line-- half of this chapter, and the entire next chapter aren't really integral to the super plot. Are they self-indulgent? Yes. Are they necessary? Definitely not. But am I going to have fun with them and give me wee characters a sparkle of relaxation? ABSOLUTELY.   
> I hope you all enjoy, thanks as always for comments and kudos.   
> Next chapter will be up next week (hopefully on time :')


	17. one night of normal

As their episode winds to a close, Frank pulls out his phone to check the time. 

“I guess we can go now.” he says, pulling himself to his feet. “I think we will be sufficiently ‘fashionably late’ as you intended.”

Leo double checks the time to make sure Frank isn’t dragging him right on time and agrees. 

“Yeah, okay okay.”

Frank offers him a hand and helps him up. Leo is ready as hell and excited to go, but he freezes as Frank turns towards the door, and Leo catches sight of metallic green scales at the base of Frank’s neck. Leo’s seen this once before, but he didn’t realize it spread up to his neck. In a mini moment of panic, Leo catches him before he heads out to the party. 

“Actually Frank-” he says, quickly. “I think to be, uh, full Leo, you need a bandana. A red one around your neck!”

Frank glances back at Leo with a funny expression on his face. “Bandana? You never wear bandanas! I’ve never once seen-” he cuts himself off. It seems almost instinctual, as his hand gravitates to the back of his neck. His face falls. 

“You can see it, can’t you?”

Leo winces. “Uh. Yeah.”

“Shit.”

Leo is taken aback, as Frank usually doesn’t swear, but as he’s obviously distressed, Leo doesn’t comment on it. 

“It’s fine-” Leo says quickly, scurrying over to his drawer to rip through for a bandana. “It’s good- see we’ll do the bandana all tied around your neck and you’ll look exactly like that white dude from Hadestown!”

Frank flushes the same color as the bandana as Leo starts folding the bandana into the shape he wants. 

“I’m surprised you know what Hadestown is.” Frank murmurs.

“Oh shut up, I’m a well rounded, cultured ass guy.”

Leo steps up to Frank and slips the bandana around his neck, beginning to knot it. 

Leo doesn’t know how to breach the topic of Frank’s progressively scaling skin. Without Jason as their center, Leo keeps forgetting that Jason’s duties are symbolically on his shoulders now. Jason would ask Frank about the scales. So, Leo should yoo. 

As Leo finishes tying, and turning the bandana to where he likes it, he clears his throat. 

“So.. uh, what’s the deal with that?”

Real smooth Valdez. 

Frank doesn’t say anything. 

Leo wrinkles his nose. “Nothing? The scales on your neck are nothing?”

Frank sighs, eyes fluttering shut. “I don’t know. They’ve been showing up for no reason. I talked to my grandma, and none of the other protectors ever had this happen, so I’m not sure why it’s happening to me.”

Leo shouldn’t have asked. Because what the hell kind of comfort is he supposed to offer to that?

Thankfully, Frank cuts in before he has to think of something to say. 

“You know what, it’s our one day to be away from Superhero stuff, so I’m going to pull that card to not talk about it right now.”

Leo breathes an internal sigh of relief. He reaches up and pats Frank on the back. 

“Your call brother. Let’s go get lit.”

*

To Leo and Frank’s surprise, the party is actually pretty booming when they arrive. They’re let in by people they don’t know, and music and guests and booze floods the living room and tiny kitchen and tiny table. Leo feels an instinctual tense in his body at the party environment, but relaxes himself as Frank is right beside him, and he catches sight of a curly blonde ponytail.

“Do you see Hazel anywhere?”

“Nah, but I see Annabeth. Let’s go their first.”

Frank agrees, and the boys head over to Annabeth. Percy sees them first and he alerts her of their presence. She turns on their heels and offers them a smile. 

“Welcome to the party.” She says, motioning around. “Long time no see.”

Percy steps up beside her and tosses an arm around her shoulders. “Hey. We haven’t formally met, but I’ve heard a lot about you guys.”

“You talk about us?”  
“Oh don’t get cocky.”

Percy tilts his head back and laughs, like Annabeth is the funniest person in the world. 

“Anyways, I’m Percy.”

“Frank,” Frank says, introducing himself. 

“Leo.”

Percy eyes him. “Didn’t I help you out of a pond once?”

Leo’s skin heats up a little with embarrassment, but there’s no use lying. “Yeah, you did. Thanks again for that.”

“Anytime dude. Like fall into a body of water and call me- I’ll be there in a second.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes, but it’s in that kind of fond way. The way she does sometimes with Leo, but it’s a lot more obvious it’s fond when she does it to Percy.

Percy, who turns out to be a really nice guy, talks to Frank and Leo for awhile, and even gets them drinks before he and Annabeth migrate over to a different part of the party, and Frank and Leo are left to fend for themselves once again. 

Leo is constantly surprised to be at a party, surrounded by people, and somehow still be on the outskirts. At least he has Frank with him this time. 

“Should we go find people? I feel like we should go find people.” Frank asks, clutching his cup closer to his chest. 

Luckily, they don’t have to venture out as a pair of arms slips around both of their waists and shoves the person attached to them in between the two boys. 

“I haven’t seen you guys in SO LONG.” Hazel moans, squeezing them closer together. “Why are you avoiding me?”

She leans over and gives Frank a kiss on the lips, before tilting back to Leo and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Leo almost winces at the heat that radiates from the spot she kissed him. 

“It’s not our fault.” Frank says, “You’re the one who's been downtown night and day these past couple of weeks.”

“Oh don’t try and turn this around on me, Zhang. You’ve been just as unavailable as I have.” she says, looking him up and down. “And I have to say I love the look you’ve got on today. Leo inspired?”

Frank chuckles. “You could say that.”

“And I’m assuming you’re Frank?” she asks, turning to look at Leo. 

“You would assume right. You’re the first person to notice!”

Hazel shrugs. “I know my best friend and my boyfriend like the back of my hand. Nothing gets past me.” she says, with a laugh. “Also you guys looked off for some reason so I had to really check you out to see what was going on.” she turns to Leo once again. “Nice butt, by the way.”

Leo gives a bit of a forced laugh, and makes an excuse to head somewhere else, avoiding Frank’s eyes as he does so. Leo sometimes wishes he could crush his feelings down the way Jason used to, so he didn’t have to deal with liking Hazel and how that affects her and Frank, but Leo knows that shit definitely didn't work out for Jason. Leo just wishes he had someone new to distract him or something. Then he could stop getting burning hot every time Hazel gets near him. Leo hasn’t seen Jason or Piper yet. He’s not sure if they’ve arrived, so he instead goes on a mission to find Nico. It is his house, so odds are he’s here somewhere, Leo just has to find him. He weaves through the crowds and makes it to the small hallway of rooms, but that’s when he gets accosted. 

“Hey, do I know you?”

“Uh no!” Leo says, looking Connor dead in the eye. “Never seen you before in my life.”

Connor eyes him for a second like he doesn’t believe him, but drops it a second later. “That’s cool. Just wanted to make sure. I meet a lot of people and I usually don’t care to remember faces, so I like to check to make sure I don’t piss anyone off.”

Leo chuckles. “Respect.”

“So which of the hosts do you know?”

“Percy.” Leo throws out quickly. “He’s dating my friend.”

Connor nods. “Cool. Nico invited me, so he’s basically the only person I was gonna know here, and he’s not even here.” he says with a laugh. “He has work until eleven so I’ve been sitting in the room over there on my phone watching conspiracy theory videos for like an hour.”  
Leo laughs, sensing an opportunity to make Connor feel a little nervous. 

“Oh you're having a great time at the party, then. So, how did you and Nico meet?”

Leo wants to laugh again as the color drains from Connor’s face. 

“We have a class together.”

“Really? I thought Nico dropped out of college.”

Connor’s eyes widen a little more and Leo is so close to bursting out laughing, it’s taking all his willpower not to.

“He uh- audits a planetary surfaces class that I take.” Connor manages. Leo has to hand it to him, he sounds a little bit convincing. “He liked the space stuff, I wanted to talk about Area 51 and aliens so the friendship was born.”

“How sweet.”

“Well I should be going. Party to get to after all.”

Leo salutes him, and the second he’s disappeared around the corner, Leo lets out the laugh he’s been holding in. That felt good. It’s been awhile since he’s got to tease someone, get under their skin a little. Things have been so serious lately, and since his relationship with Frank has been shifting away from that, it was good for Leo to get a little of that in there. It’s at this point, Leo remembers that Connor said Nico isn’t arriving for probably another hour, so Leo heads back to the party to look for his other friends. 

“LEO!” 

AS Leo rounds the corner, he traces the source of the name call to Piper who is grinning like mad at him, with Jason beside her. Now Leo can’t say Jason is wearing the same enthused face Piper is, but he looks pretty happy all things considered, a smile on his face and an arm around Piper’s shoulders. 

Leo makes his way over to her, and pulls her momentarily from Jason to give her a big hug. 

“What’s up?”

“Do you want to take shots?” she asks. “I’ve already got Will and Percy down to do it.”

“Not you?” Leo asks Jason.

Jason shakes his head, a little chuckle slipping from his lips. “Not a shot guy. Not even that much of a drink guy to be honest.”

“Totally cool, man.” Leo says, “I, however, will be taking Piper up on her offer.”

And about a minute later, he does, tossing the bright blue liquid back so it burns his throat. It’s a refreshing feeling, a burning sensation that doesn’t unconsciously reveal itself based on Leo’s mood, so he welcomes it. Jason disappears off into the crowd, and Leo is pulled by Piper into a game of beer pong. Piper is good. Like really good. He is not pulling weight in the team whatsoever, but nobody cares. It’s just plain fun. For a second, Leo genuinely forgets about everything else that’s been happening in his life, from the super stuff, to his mom, to his first ever party at Caltech that’s eerily like this one. All he’s thinking about is the way Piper jumps up and down every time they score, and the way he feels knowing for this minute that he’s surrounded by his friends, and he’s happy.

The moment fades as the game winds down, and reality sets back in to Leo’s mind. He hugs Piper again after their victory, and goes to find where Jason has gone off to. 

He hasn’t yet figured out how he’s going to convince Jason he’s so much more to the team than his powers, especially without talking about super stuff tonight. Right now, Leo's priority is seeing how he’s doing, maybe getting the guy to loosen up a little more before probing him tomorrow about super stuff once again. 

Leo finds him easily. In the midst of the bustle of the party, Jason is sitting on the couch with a bottle of water in hand, surveying the party. He looks at ease, with a little bit of sadness in his eyes. A Jason look that has become a staple over the past two days. Leo doesn’t hesitate one bit to join him. 

“Hey.” Leo says, sitting criss cross applesauce on the couch. “Nice party, right?”

Jason nods. “It’s fun. I like it when everyone gets to let loose.”

Jason’s gaze is fixed on a point that Leo can’t quite determine. 

“What’re you looking at?”

Jason chuckles a little, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose. 

“When Piper drinks she always pulls out these really funny dance moves.” he tells Leo, not pulling his eyes from where Piper is in fact doing some intricate dance that involves hand gestures and loud lip syncing to Lip Gloss. “I love it. She just doesn’t care about anything else in the world.”

Leo’s crush senses are tingling as he watches Jason watch Piper. Hey, if he can’t talk about super stuff, Leo’s at least going to test his wingman abilities for Piper. 

“She’s awesome, isn’t she?”

Jason finally spares Leo a glance, cheeks tinting the softest pink. 

“She’s so awesome. Genuinely the best person I know.”

Leo thinks about being subtle for two seconds, but that approach isn’t really his style. 

“You know she likes you.” Leo says. “She told me herself that she’s not even subtle about it. She knows that you know.”

Jason gets a stupid little smile on his face, but he quickly lets it fade back into his normal expression. “Piper is sweet.” he says, as if it’s an objective fact rather than his own feeling. “And smart. And beautiful. And she has a heart too big for her own good.”

“And?”

“And, what? That’s all I had to say.”

“Seriously?”

“Well what did you want me to say?”

Leo rolls his eyes. As much as Piper tries to convince him that Jason is more perceptive than he lets on, the guy is still a little bit of a dummy when it comes to girls. And that's coming from Leo.

“That you like her too?”

Jason’s expression darkens a little. “It’s complicated.”

“Do you like her?”

“I don’t think I can be what she wants.”

“But do you like her?”

“And there’s the team to think about-” 

“Jason. Jesus dude, just answer the question! Do you like Piper?”

“Yes.” he answers, without hesitation. 

A satisfied grin curls onto Leo's lips. Jason squeezes his eyes shut, as his face tints a darker red. 

“Go dance with her.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

Jason dances around his answer again. “I mean, I’m thinking about a lot of things right now. And I don’t think I can expend emotional investments in another person.”

Leo rolls his eyes. “I’m not asking you to confess your feelings and get in a relationship with her. That’s actually a shitty idea considering everything that’s going on with you, and your own stuff. I’m just telling you to spend your one night off having fun with your friends and maybe just maybe dance a little with the girl you like.”

Jason sighs. Leo can see his inner struggle. That decision he consciously makes to give up a little bit of his control and have fun. Be himself. Leo is thankful that this time, Jason listens to him over that little voice in his head. 

“You’re right.”

Leo’s grin returns. “I’m always right. When will you guys realize this?”

Jason laughs. A real laugh that Leo doesn’t know if he’s ever heard before now. 

“Soon.”

Leo pats Jason on the back and watches his friend go. He can already tell Jason has changed. The willingness to talk about emotions in any form, the laughter. Jason is opening up. And it makes Leo feel so good watching him grow. Jason is the kind of person that can bring about so much good and so much strength from from tragedy. Leo doesn’t know if Jason realizes that yet, but Leo hopes he will soon. 

Leo then decides to play spectator for awhile, stretching his legs out on the couch and glancing around to see what his friends are doing. 

Frank is with Hazel and Connor at the little dining room table. Hazel is sitting in Frank’s lap, tossing her head back in laughter at something Connor said. Frank doesn’t seem to be involved in the conversation, but dude looks just happy to be there. And obviously he still looks great in his Leo-inspired getup. 

Will is in the kitchen. Leo can see his mop of blonde curls over the counter as he reaches for more bottles and hands them over to Percy. Percy and Annabeth are together still. Leo doesn’t think they’ve left each others sides. Which is a little cringey, but Leo thinks a little cringey, and a little sweet are good for Annabeth. 

Leo returns his gaze to Piper and Jason, and snorts at the sight. Piper is continuing her fiendish dance moves, but has now brought Jason into the mix. Most awkward guy in the world award has officially been transferred indefinitely from Frank to Jason. Piper twirls him around, and he stumbles after her. Completely sober, his dancing ability is mediocre at best. On a scale of completely unbearable to best dancer in the world, Jason falls somewhere between dad at a father daughter dance, and newborn bambi. It’s pretty great. 

It's there, on the outskirts he's become accustomed to over the years, that Leo realizes that in his first real group of friends, every person besides him is coupled up. all of his friends, each and every one, have someone, and somehow Leo continues to be alone. He hasn’t dwelled on that fact in awhile, but it’s hard not to notice when each of his friends and their partners are in the immediate vicinity. That thought creeps in, encroaches itself in his mind and sticks, pulling Leo out of the fun of the party. 

Leo wonders what it’s like to be with someone romantically. He spent a lot of time wondering what it would be like if he had a group of friends to make him happy, but now that he does, he still finds himself discontent. As if he’s one step behind everyone else. That's when Hazel pops into his head. Leo imagines himself in Frank’s shoes, getting to be with Hazel like that, and call her his girlfriend, but he feels guilty the second that pops up. 

He taps an I love you out, trying to remind himself he shouldn’t be so greedy. He’s got good friends and a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. A cute person being into him and coming into his life would be too much right now. 

Right at that moment, the couch dips near Leo’s feet, and Leo jumps in surprise.

“Shit dude, you scared me.”

Nico laughs, shrugging off his black jacket. “Sorry. I didn’t foresee sitting down next to you being a scary thing. Want me to move?”

Leo rolls his eyes. “Nah you’re fine. Just make a sound first next time.”  
Nico laughs. “Fair request.” 

“I thought you got off work at 11. That’s what Connor said.”

Nico shrugs. I got off early. My boss is really lax. And I can do almost everything on my laptop, so I only go in for team meetings and stuff.”

“Cool.” Leo says. “I don’t have a job.”

Nico laughs again. “I didn’t have a job when I was a freshman either. And I’d say you have a pretty good excuse on why your schedule is full.”

Yeah, he’s right about that. 

“Also is this how you normally dress?” Nico asks. “I know I’ve only seen you in costume, and normal clothes literally once, but this seems not right.”

Leo laughs. “I’m cosplaying as Frank.”

“Of course you are.”

“How do I look? Do you think I should reconsider adding the turtleneck to my daily wardrobe?”

“Definitely not.”  
“What are you saying? You don’t like me when I’m Frank?” Leo asks in a faux-offended voice. “You think I look ugly in a turtleneck?”

“Oh shut up. You look good in the turtleneck, it’s just not you.”

Leo’s ego grows, but at the same time, he feels heat rushing to his cheeks. He loves compliments, it’s just sometimes when people give them to him, the cockiness plays second fiddle to Leo getting weirdly bashful. Leo is surprised Nico is one of the ones to get him like this. He's also surprised how easily his mind got taken out of the oney thoughts, back to the present. 

“Yeah, I know. I know.” Leo says.

“It looks like your friends are having fun.” Nico comments, and Leo is grateful for the topic change, so his cheeks can cool down. “Is their one night of normal treating them well?”  
Leo glances back out at his friends to see that they’ve all grouped together now, breaking their rule for being safe around Hazel and Connor because of how much they all wanted to spend normal time together. 

“Yeah it is.”

“Want to go join them?”  
Leo doesn't even need to think before he answers. “Hell yeah I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyy y'all. New chapter is finally here.  
> I'm so sorry for the delays. I'm going to be more realistic in my chapter notes that I will continue to try to get my updates up within a week, but I am incredibly busy at the moment, and this fic has unfortunately taken a backseat. That being said, this is not ending but I just wanna put that out there, infrequency is creeping up on me.  
> I hope you enjoy our fun little filler chapter! I'm trying my best not to neglect the emotional relationships as I continue on with the super plot so here is a taste of that!  
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos and for always reading, you are all so sweet!  
> New chapter up as soon as I can. Thanks for patience.


	18. Are you in or out?

When Leo wakes up the next morning, his first thought is immediately about the super team. Well, actually, that’s a lie. His first thought is that he’s got a bit of a headache and his arm aches from Piper beating him in arm wrestling upwards of five times. But his second thought is 100% about the super team. Their day of relaxation and normalcy has passed, and although part of Leo wants to stay in that life, he can’t. Especially knowing that everyday the election is growing nearer, and the team is floundering. They have nothing to go off of, no means of fighting off evil except with their sheer will, and they don’t have the faintest idea if everything they’ve been anticipating is even true. But Leo doesn’t care about any of that. That’s been a given since day one. Their issue now is obviously Jason. 

Waking up this morning, Leo has this weird feeling that something happened last night that may have swung Jason in the direction of rejoining the team, but he just can’t remember it. Come to think of it, Leo can’t remember just about anything from the night that happened after he talked to Nico. 

Leo squeezes his eyes shut, trying to recall his memories from last night that are currently being held hostage in the drunk punishment portion of his brain. 

A couple memories perk up right away. 

_ “Piper NO ONE wants to arm wrestle you anymore. We all saw what you did to Percy.”  _

_ “Percy’s being a baby. Rug burn never killed anyone.” _

Leo chuckles a little to himself, but shifts his brain to another part of the night. 

_ “Leo are you kidding me?” Frank asks, rubbing his temples. “You couldn’t think of anything to clean up the mess with other than my turtleneck?” _

Leo grimaces with that one. He remembers apologizing and playing Eye of the Tiger after that though, which without fail puts Frank in a better mood. 

The rest of his thought are shorter blips. Memories of Nico kneeling next to Connor as he threw up, Will making out with someone or maybe it wasn’t someone just a really tall lamp, and Jason and Piper putting on their coats and sitting outside on the deck.

Despite these thoughts, huge chunks of Leo’s night have been taken from him. He sits up, and his faint headache feeling increases tenfold. 

Okay this is what a hangover feels like. Leo had previously mistaken his acquisition of superpowers as a hangover, but he’s now confident this is the real deal. Drowsy brain, missing memories, headache, and that sick taste in the back of his throat. Leo sits up and it connects in his brain that someone is lying across his lap. He blinks a couple of times, and realizes that the head in his lap belongs to Frank. 

Leo groans, and scooches his friend’s head off of his legs onto Hazel’s before getting himself up. 

He stumbles a little, realizing that everyone passed out on the living room floor, but quickly makes his way to the kitchen in search of water and something that could revive his memories of before. 

Leo pulls a cup from the sink that’s fairly clean, and fills it up with some water from the sink. He chugs it, and tosses the cup aside, looking out at the state of the living room. 

Hazel, Frank, Connor, Piper, and Jason are spread out throughout the room. Mostly on the floor, but Jason and Piper have secured the couch. 

Leo’s mind flashes back to the night before. 

*

_ “No, no, me and Jason get the couch.” _

_ “Why do you guys get the couch?” Connor asks with a frown. “We’ve been calling sleeping arrangements for the past ten minutes while you guys were tonguing on the deck.” _

_ “We were not tonguing, thank you very much.” Piper says, with her nose wrinkled. “And as the co-party inventor I say that me and Jason deserve the couch.” _

_ “It’s really fine, Piper.” Jason says, scratching the back of his neck. “There are people who need the couch more than me.” _

_ “Listen to him! I have back problems!” Connor argues. _

_ “Frank is biggest he should get the couch.” Hazel throws in. _

_ “Jason’s hand is broken!” Piper throws in.  _

_ “So, he needs the couch?” _

_ “Yes he does! Let’s arm wrestle for it.” _

_ “Piper, please. You really don’t have to.” _

_ “Come on, Grace. Be selfish for once. I’m fighting for your honor and you can’t stop me.” _

*

Oh. So that’s how the arm wrestling started. Piper is a lot stronger than she looks. Leo thinks that Frank might’ve forfeited his round so Piper and Jason could have the couch, but every other one, Piper won fair and square. 

Leo shakes his head back into the present and focuses back on Jason. Jason is sleeping calmly on the couch with Piper basically on top of him. He looks more relaxed than Leo had seen him in a long time. Maybe ever. 

Leo is once again overcome with that feeling that Jason and him came to some conclusions about super stuff, but that’s impossible because they weren’t allowed to talk about super stuff! What is he thinking?

“Morning.” a raspy voice comes from beside him. Leo glances over to see Annabeth with her hair all messy and a thick blanket around her shoulders. 

“Hey.”

She reaches up and opens the cupboards to pull out a couple of mugs. 

“I’m assuming that the second morning you hit your brain also went right back to super stuff.” she says, pulling coffee and tea bags out of the cupboard as well. 

Leo sighs. “Yeah.”

Annabeth nods. “Do you remember us talking about something last night?” she asks. “Because I feel like we did, but I don’t know what it is.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Leo admits. “This is the most college kid problem we’ve ever had.”

Annabeth laughs gently. “I know. It’s weird trying to figure out what happened at a party instead of tracking criminals.”

Leo almost forgot about when they used to do tracking. So much has been going on over the past few weeks that they’ve really dropped the ball on tracking and defending. Leo furrows his brows, as a new thought bubbles into his brain. 

“Are you still tracking Luke?”

Her gaze falls to the mugs, and she pauses for a second. “Yeah. I couldn’t bring myself to stop. He hasn’t been doing too much. More inside, rather than doing errands like he used to. I’m assuming that run in with us didn’t bode well for his image.”

Leo nods. As his friends begin to stir in the living room, he thinks he should leave the rest of that conversation in a more secluded area. Particularly Piper’s apartment. 

Leo clears his throat. “So. Let’s see if you remember more than me. I remember arm wrestling, vomiting, and eye of the tiger.”

Annabeth laughs. “Not much more. I do have the violin and broken glass memory.”

The violin and broken glass memory enters his mind. 

“Oh my god.”

*

_ “Nico, you play the violin?!?!” Leo yells, dragging the case out into the living room.  _

_ “I went to a private school, they made us play string instruments for like a fucking decade what do you want from me?” _

_ “Play for us! Play for us!” _

_ Nico groans and tries to kick Leo out of the way, but Leo eventually manages to get the bow and violin into Nico’s grip.  _

_ He makes a face, and positions himself. “Any requests?” _

_ “Sweet Caroline!” Annabeth answers, lifting her drink. Cheers follow in response. _

_ Hazel cackles. “Oh my god you guys are so white.” _

_ “You know what, I change my mind. No requests.” _

_ And with that, Nico slides his bow against the strings and begins to play. It’s beautiful. Thankfully Nico didn’t rip out some kind of kind of sad operatic ballad that would kill the mood. He offered some kind of jig that allows the mass group to dance. And they do. Leo finds himself twirling Piper around, and getting to almost a Jason level of embarrassing dancing. It’s fun and stupid and crazy until, they hear a sound like glass shattering. _

_ It was like glass shattering because it was glass shattering. Nico cuts the music as they see that one of the girls at the party had got a little too into her dancing and had tripped over some of the shit Percy and Nico had left out and ended up falling to the ground, her glass along with her. It doesn’t look too bad, until she sits up and shows everyone that her arm is bleeding, as a result of her falling into all that glass.  _

_ “Oh shit!” Leo says, glancing around through his drunken haze. “Will? Where’s Will?” _

_ But the thing is, before anyone could even think about locating Will, someone had already appeared at the girl’s side to tend to her.  _

_ Leo barely blinks before he sees Jason lifting her up and carrying her over to the kitchen.  _ _   
_ _ “You’re going to be fine.” Jason says, calmly. “We’ll just clean it up and get it covered.” _

_ The girl nods. She doesn’t look too distressed over her own arm, but she keeps looking back at the glass.  _

_ “I’m fine. I just feel bad about breaking their glass.” _

_ “Seriously, don’t.” Jason assures her. “I bet they paid like five dollars for that max. It’s fine.” _

_ And you can see the girl relax under his touch and his words. Jason has this instant calming effect on people in trouble, and he does it easily. He handles washing her arm and getting her some bandaids before cleaning up the glass and allowing the party to resume. _

*

“What a night we had.” Leo says, giving Annabeth a half smile. 

“What a night indeed.” she agrees. “Do you want coffee or tea?”

“Have you met me? Do you think I’d ever be relaxed or well rested enough to turn down coffee?”

“Fair enough. I’m the same way.” she says, pouring a mug for him, and one for herself. “Percy is a serial tea drinker, and I’ll never understand that about him.”

“Maybe after the election, you and I can drink tea together.” Leo says, taking his coffee and taking a sip. 

Annabeth snorts. “Let’s win first, make plans later.”

She gives him a nod, and takes her coffee and Percy’s tea and heads back towards his room. Leo glances at the time on the microwave. It’s around ten. As that’s a reasonable time and Leo is bored with hopping from his Jason existential crisis to his election night one to his one about not remembering the day before, he decides to wake everyone up. He kicks Frank, Connor, and Hazel awake, and due to the noise and unhappiness, Piper and Jason wake up on their own. 

From their, the house hums to life. Plans quickly start being made about breakfast, cleanup, alcohol payment, etc. Leo stands off to the side, and Frank makes his way over to him. 

“Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks, in a lowered voice. 

“Is this about the turtleneck?”

Frank narrows his eyes. “You’re still on thin ice for that, but no. It’s a new day so, uh, super stuff.”

Leo glances around. Thankfully everyone is wrapped up in their own conversations, so they can chatter as they please. 

“Go on.”

“Do you think that after that whole truth or dare game answer, Jason is back on board?”

BINGO. The truth or dare game! That was probably the super discussion Leo remembers. 

“Uhhh you’re going to have to remind me what happened.”

And Frank does. 

*

_ “Jason, truth or dare?” _

_ Jason makes a big long show of thinking about his decision, causing the others to laugh.  _

_ “We don’t have all day!” Will calls from across the circle.  _

_ Jason chuckles. “Just kidding. I guess I’ll do truth!” _

_ Will thinks for a second. “If you could do one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?” _

_ Jason furrows his brows. The way he bites down on his lip, and trains his eyes to one spot, Leo can tell that he knew his answer right away. It probably popped into his brain the second the question was asked, but for some reason, he’s holding back on saying it.  _

_ “Um. Well. I guess if I could literally spend my life doing one thing, it would be helping people!” Jason says. He pauses for a groan, or a comment on Jason being the perfect guy, but nothing comes. “I mean obviously not like my job in the library, which is nice too, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know… just helping people feel safe. Making their lives a little easier and better. I wouldn’t even need people to know it was my helping them. I just feel good when I get to look out for people who no one else looks out for.” _

_ Silence follows for a second, but then Jason clears his throat.  _

_ “So yeah. Annabeth, truth or dare?” _

*

“Damn. I remember now.”

“So you think he’s coming back?”

“I sure hope so. I think we really really need to have a meeting.”

Frank nods, and heads over to say something to Hazel. Leo makes a beeline for Piper and Jason who are talking in the corner. 

“We’re a go on a meeting right after this, right?” Leo asks, and Jason and Piper both nod as if it’s obvious. 

“My place? Fifteen minutes?”

Leo nods. “I’ll let the other two know.” Leo slips by Frank and relays the message, and the two of them seek out Annabeth to let her know as well. 

“Can I get a ride?” she asks.

“And can we get breakfast on the way?”

“If it’s quick.” Frank replies. 

They say their goodbyes and thank yous to the hosts, all who had woken up and come out of hiding, and then the five of them casually excuse themselves from the party at the same time. 

“He’s gotta be back on the team, right?” Frank asks, as they start the drive to Piper’s apartment. “I mean, come on.”

“We don’t know anything for sure.” Annabeth warns. “Don’t jinx it. All we can do is hope.”

“Well I sure hope, because if he doesn’t then we don’t have a chance in hell for defeating Hera on election night.”

And for once, Leo doesn’t chime in to reassure Frank, because he knows Frank is right. 

*

Once they’ve all got food into their systems, the five friends sit on the floor in Piper’s living room. The tension in the room is palpable. No one is speaking. They’re all waiting. There’s an obvious elephant in the room, that everyone is hyper focused on, except for the elephant themselves. 

Leo feels like he might combust in the silence, so he finds himself breaking the silence. 

“Jason.” he says, making Jason’s head snap up to meet his gaze. “Just tell us. We were all there last night. We saw how you were all selfless with the couch. We all saw how you ran to that girl’s aid like it was second nature, because it is. And we all heard what you said at truth or dare. We’re all hearing the signs, but we need you to tell us, for real. Are you in or out?”

Jason stares at Leo. Leo can’t read his expression. It’s a weird mix of proud dad, and scared puppy; a combination that is new to Leo. Jason glances around at the others in a circle, before taking a deep breath. 

“Honestly, I’m…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!!  
> I want to say first and foremost thank you all so much for your patience! I could've uploaded this at my normal schedule but I was so busy and the chapter wasn't coming out like I wanted it to, and I never want to put something up I'm not happy with just because of a deadline.   
> That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Different writing style flip with flashbacks which will most likely never resurface again haha but it was the only way I could convey what I wanted to come out of this chapter.   
> I've already started working on next chapter, so that one will hopefully be up soon.   
> Thank you for all the nice comments and kudos! I am overwhelmed with your support! You all rock!  
> As always, if you're so inclined, message me at my tumblr gracesjasons! and new chapter will be up soon.


	19. Oh fuck

“Honestly, I’m really on the fence about saying I’m in.” is what he says. 

Well what the hell are they supposed to do with that answer? Thankfully, Jason keeps talking. 

“You’re right. You all saw me yesterday. Helping people, protecting, saving the city, all that stuff is in my bones. It’s been the biggest part of me as long as I can remember, and I feel like I not only have a duty to protect the city, but I _want_ to. I want to make sure everyone is okay.”

Leo is waiting for the but. 

“But…” Jason finally averts his eyes from Leo’s. “But, I don’t know if I can stand up to her. Knowing how she’s had this control over me my whole life. What she did when I was so young, it- it scares me. It scares me that she’ll do something, and I won’t be able to fight back. Or she flips some switch and I become evil like the rest of the kids she turned super.”

“We would never let that happen, Jason.” 

Jason looks over at Piper and gives her the softest smile. 

“We really wouldn’t.” Leo agrees. “I’ll take that hag down before she even thinks about getting near you. It would be my honor to put her into early retirement.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes. “Basically, Jason. What we’re saying is, we hear you, and your fears are so valid. I know I get scared thinking about getting near Luke again. But we will do everything we can to be there for you. And if being “in” to you means that you need to only be on city defending or citizen saving, and not being up and close fighting the bad guys, then that’s what you’ll do. But we _need_ you on this team. In whatever capacity you will give us.”

He nods slowly. “If you guys are cool with that. Letting me kind of be background helping on this big mission, then I would be happy to say I’m in.”

The groups piles in for a hug on Jason and he chuckles, and holds them all tight against his chest. 

Leo’s heart swells with joy, the familiar fire lighting his skin with excitement and anticipation. 

“Do you believe us now?” Leo asks, pulling back so he can look Jason in the eyes. “That dumbass Hera has nothing to with how you use your powers? And how much of a hero you are?”

Jason gives him a serious look, this time it’s almost fully proud dad, and maybe a twinge of grateful friend. “I believe you guys. Thank you.”

Leo dives in for the hug again, and just like that, everything is back on track. 

“So, what’s the plan for the next two weeks?”

“Oh so right into it?”

Piper laughs. “I mean yeah! We had our day, now it’s back on the grind. That’s how it works.”

She’s right. 

Frank sighs. “Alright, let’s do it. I’ll get a pen.”

*

_Things the super team has been procrastinating and should really do asap :/_

  * _Reassign city defending and tracking cause we’ve really been slacking on this_


  * _Have another reinforcements meeting soon to see if we can get any more info out of the three to help us_


  * _Somehow try and figure out what Hera is doing on election night cause we’re all still in the dark with less than two weeks to go :’((((_


  * _Make a plan of attack for election night but also plan going to the protest initially with Hazel so she doesn’t get suspicious_


  * _Leo: make everyone new tech, Annabeth: trackers back on Luke, Frank: get together the reinforcements, Piper and Jason: Focus on how to protect the citizens_
  * _Try our hardest not to die_



And at the bottom of the list, Leo has scrawled on his own addition that he believes is just as pressing as any other item on their list. 

  * _GET LEO A BETTER COSTUME AND A REAL SUPER NAME_



Like come on. It’s owed at this point. 

“What’s wrong with Fire Boy?”

“Everything is wrong with Fire Boy!” Leo shoots back. “For instance, why do I have to be a boy, and Jason gets to be a man?”

Annabeth snorts. “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

Leo crosses his arms and glances over at his muscular friend beside him. “Now that I think about it, no. Not particularly.”

“Leo, the costume you have now is fine.” Piper assures. “It hides your identity and that’s all we really need. And no one is going to be paying attention to your name when they’re in a mass hysteria over whatever is happening on Election night.”

“They especially won’t be paying attention if we lose.”

Leo makes a face. He wishes Annabeth would halt on the realistic thinking because everytime she hints there is a chance they might not win the big battle, it really dampens Leo’s mood. In hopes of ending that portion of the conversation, Leo concedes in his costume improvement for now, and the group starts at the top of the list. 

“Okay then. City defending and tracking for the week.” Frank reads. “What are we thinking? Jason, you want city defending I assume?”

Jason gives a hesitant nod.  
“I’ll also take city defending.”

Heads whip in the direction of Annabeth. 

“What?” Frank asks, genuinely. “Are you kidding?”

Annabeth has famously been incredibly adamant about being on tracking every single week, and even after all the changes they’ve gone through over the past week, that wasn’t something they thought would change as well. 

“Not kidding.” Annabeth answers. “Jason wants to look out for the citizens, and I do too. I’ve just been thinking about it, and we all have a lot to lose on election night if this city gets taken over. So I’d prefer to figure out how to protect those people, instead of chasing people I stopped caring about a long time ago.”

They all let that sink in for a second, before Frank clears his throat. 

“Alright then. Well. That leaves me, Leo, and Piper on tracking for this week.”

At that decision, Annabeth reaches into her bag and tosses small black machines at the three on tracking. 

Leo looks it over in his hands. He tentatively places the connecting earphones in his ear and turns the dial. It makes a harsh static noise before zeroing in on the faint muffled voice of none other than Scarface himself. 

“Holy shit, Anna.” Leo breathes, glancing up on her. “How did you get this?”

“You think I didn’t go into that fight prepared to see him? I knew exactly what was coming, so I thought I’d take advantage of getting to fight him by bugging the shit out of him. We should have a voice on Leo’s, location on Piper’s, and Frank’s was originally video, but I think he may have found that one, sorry.”

“Yeah, mine is sideways video of a dimly lit alley.” Frank says, laughing a little. “But that doesn’t even matter. With that other stuff, we can find him, easy.”

Annabeth nods. “Good luck with that.”

From there, the group shifts into planning their reinforcements meeting. They decide that Wednesday of this week is the latest they should have it, as that is pushing closer and closer to next Tuesday. Annabeth finds the same rental from last time, and books it. Frank agrees to reaching out to the reinforcements and getting them all there that night, and by that point, there is nothing more than group can do without more information. 

So, they call it a night. 

*

Leo is gifted with a day and a half of normalcy, and then it’s back on the super grind. But Leo can’t lie, he loves it. He’s missed this so much. Ever since Leo regained his fire powers, he hasn’t had the chance to really use them for good the way he used to. Leo gets a bit of nostalgia for those early days when he was on his own. A goofy vigilante with fire hands who really wanted to help people, but didn’t quite know how. But now, it’ll be even better. Leo has a better, but still mediocre, costume now, he has super friends who will stand by him, and he can handle his fire powers more than ever. This city should get hyped as fuck, because tonight on tracking is the reveal of Leo 2.0 (NOT Fire Boy)

Leo and Frank get ready… in an alley. Which is sucky, but they couldn’t just get suited up at their freaking dorm room. They could before, but it’s too dangerous now. Scarface and his friends already know what Leo looks like out of costume, so he’s not trying to give them any tip offs to where he lives on top of that. The alley smells like shit. And burned ramen. And Frank does slip on a banana peel which is about the funniest thing Leo’s ever seen in his life, but it’s good enough for them to get dressed in. 

When Frank reaches for his shirt, Leo makes sure to glance over at him. Not cause he’s checking his roommate out, which Frank is surprisingly jacked so not a bad look anyways, but because Leo is still worried about Frank’s whole scales situation. As soon as the shirt is over Frank’s head, Leo takes in the fact that the scales that used to be concentrated on the nape of his neck have now spread to lower down onto his back and a little bit is cropping up on his shoulder. It looks bad. Leo recalls Frank telling him that no one else in his family ever got scales like this, so why is Frank getting literally consumed by this job he’s been given? Leo doesn’t know. He makes a mental note to try and google something that might help Frank because he’s come to really hate seeing Frank upset, so that’s for another time.

Leo instead lets Frank finish suiting up, before Leo walks over and tosses an arm around him.  
“Ready to go?”

“Ready.”

*

The two boys meet Piper, bejeweled and in full Opia gear, at her usual tracking spot, the top of the building across from Mayor Hera’s stately home. 

“I’ve been tracking Scarface’s location.” Piper says. “He’s been spending most of his time at City Hall, but earlier today he went somewhere else and he hasn’t left yet. Did you get any voice stuff?”

Leo turns his head to Frank. He gave the big guy a chance to take over the voice recorder as his video thing was broken, and more importantly Leo was bored of being in charge of listening to Scarface snore and eat like the world’s worst ASMR. 

“Uh yeah. Sorry I didn’t say anything sooner to you Fire Boy, but I wanted to wait till we were together.”

“It’s fine, dude.” Leo says, noting that Frank is using super names. “Just tell us what you got”

“Scarface hasn’t been sent out on missions since the last time we saw him cause apparently that was a bad screw up on his part. But this thing he’s picking up tonight is really important for Election night and Hera only trusted him to go get it.”  
“So, what you’re saying is, we have to go steal whatever he’s picking up to screw over election night?”

Frank sighs. “If you want to put it that way, yes.”

Piper brushes back her hair. “So, then you know where he is, right Creature?”

Frank nods slowly. “I do, Opia.”

Leo doesn’t know but he’s got a good hunch. “Let me guess. Is he visiting our favorite child abusing capitalist monster maker?”

Piper nods. 

“We’re going to Olympus Corp.”

*

Olympus Corp. is surprisingly far away. It’s technically a part of downtown, but it’s past the warehouse district and hidden off in the hills like it’s some kind of Dr. Frankenstein-ass lair. When Leo thinks about it though, it basically is. 

For being such a big company though, this building has shit security. The three of them enter at the side and easily scale the fence. Shoutout to enhanced agility. Leo easily finds the camera system and uses Piper’s bobby pin and a wire cutter to disable it. There’s an alarm buzzer that lets people in and out of the building, but they ignore that completely and slink around the back to the loading dock. There’s men who don’t look like they actually work here, moving boxes. All of them are in suits or stealth gear, or other unfit outfits of the sort. Leo doesn’t linger on that, and he ducks behind cars with his two friends, and slips into the building right as the door is shut. 

The three of them quickly take cover behind a huge stack of boxes. Leo is incredibly surprised absolutely no one has seen them. He basks in self confidence for a split second because yeah, him and his friends are _that_ good, but that’s wiped away by reality too quickly. He has this warm prickling in the back of his neck that tells him something else is going on here. 

“We got in too easily.” Leo whispers to his friends, glancing around to make sure there’s no immediate danger. “We should be really careful inside. People may be watching even if we think they aren’t.”

His two friends nod. 

Piper pops her head up quickly, then glances back at her little tracker from Annabeth. 

“It still says we’re farther away from his dot.” she whispers. “I think we have to go deeper in. Possibly down, but I’m not sure yet.”

“Should we split up?”  
“No.” Piper and Frank answer quickly. 

Leo chuckles. “Kidding. Years and years of scooby doo have taught me that is a terrible idea.”

So, the three of them continue to creep along following Piper’s lead. Piper keeps her head down, focused intently on her tracker as they maneuver through different shelves and industrial forklifts. Leo tries to think about what might be in all these boxes, but it’s probably just normal stuff. He forgets that the super tech and scary super makers are the side gig to the actual shit they make here. 

They near a small office, and Piper almost walks directly into the line of vision of two of the people inside there, but thankfully Frank catches her by the suit and and pulls her back before she reveals herself. 

“Sorry.” she whispers, quickly. Looking at Frank with a grateful expression. 

Frank offers her a thumbs up, signaling it’s all good. 

They pause for a second, and Leo takes the voice recorder from Frank and puts one of the earphones in. He turns the dial, and the voice is a lot more clear now. Probably because they’re dangerously close to Luke’s location. 

“Two huge misses in a row and yet Hera still sends you out on this job. Why?” 

Well that’s not Luke. That’s an eerily familiar voice that Leo can’t quite pinpoint. He’s never heard it before, he’s sure of that, but for some reason that tone is familiar. 

“I’m the best she’s got. Two missions that did not go as planned doesn’t change that I am her number one.” That’s Luke for sure. 

“For now.” the other voice replies.

“Listen, I didn’t come here to be demeaned. I came here to get what I came for, and to get out, so if you could hurry up the process old man, I’d appreciate it.”

Jeez. Luke just Ok Boomer’d whoever he was talking to, which Leo assumed would equate to him getting beat down, but the older guy just agrees. “Fine.”

A second later, the P.A system roars to life, and the older man’s voice blares out over the entire warehouse. Leo rips out the earphone and glances nervously at his friends. 

“Could someone please transport Hera’s special microphone to my office?” the man asks over the loudspeaker. “Not the original one, the new one. The one that helps with the whole mind control business, you know the drill. Her lackey is getting antsy.”

What??? Why the fuck would they announce what the microphone is over a loudspeaker to the entire factory? Is everyone who is here in on it? Leo gets that creeping hot feeling in the back of his neck again, the feeling that something isn’t right. 

“We should get out of here.” Leo tells his friends. 

Piper’s brows pull down. “Why? Leo we stopped turning and running a long time ago. We have to get that microphone.”

“But-”

And just before Leo can protest further, the P.A system blares out again. 

“And one more thing. If someone could also round up the _children_ in Halloween costumes trying to sneak up on me and Mr. Castellan, that would be great too. Pretty sure I saw the flying one near shelving unit D. Thank you. ”

“Oh fuck.”

And Oh fuck is right. 

The three of them immediately shoot up into fight mode, back to back. Leo hears Frank growl beside him, and Leo himself takes a step forward to prepare himself. 

All it takes is one deep breath, and Leo focuses until his hands heat up with flames. 

For a split second, nothing happens. And then it all comes crashing down. Literally. A siren starts ringing and people start appearing to get them, and Piper’s first instinct is to yell 

“LOOK OUT GUYS,” fly ten feet up in the air, and smash her side into a stack of boxes, sending them toppling down onto their oncoming enemies. 

Fuck. Leo loves Piper. 

Leo and Frank duck out of the way and get into the real hand to hand combat. Leo sets out his flames as the first guy approaches him. He’s a lot burlier than Leo with this dead eyes stare, which worries Leo for about two seconds, before he realizes the guy isn’t light on his feet. Leo sends one blow to the guys stomach, and he goes toppling over. He doesn’t make any move to get up, so Leo takes on the two guys coming towards him wearing the same dead eyed stare as the first. Leo takes them out quickly as well, using his trusty extendo arm to grab them and send them sliding into a stack of boxes. As simple as it is for Leo is knock these guys out, there seems to be about a million of them. They’re coming from all angles, just closing in on the group. After knocking out his tenth person with those dead eyes and slow reflexes, Leo starts to realize that these people aren’t really acting like people at all. They’re like zombies. 

Leo knows Mayor Hera is super like them. Piper has told him about her mind control voice powers, so Leo shouldn’t have been surprised that she’s been using them for stuff like this. 

It’s like every single employee at Olympus Corp. is brainwashed to do whatever Mayor Hera and that man on the P.A tell them. 

Piper and Frank seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as they aren’t wasting any great effort on these crowds. All it takes is a box or a bop to the head and they’re out cold. 

But Piper seems to be getting incredibly desperate as she glances towards the office. 

“Fire Boy,” she calls, noticing Leo easily taking down the couple of zombie workers still around him. “Go after the microphone. We’ve got here under control, but we need that.”

Leo nods, and socks the lady in front of him in the face before listening to Piper. 

She soars over to where Leo is and takes over his fight, while Leo bolts over to the office. 

Scarface and Old man are still in there. Leo is far beyond attempts at subtlety, so he makes a big show of heading over there, and walking up to the big glass door. 

He turns the handle and it’s locked. Scarface laughs from the inside. 

A smirk slips onto Leo’s face as he raises his hand, now covered in flame, and presses it to the door, effectively melting a whole in the middle. 

The two on the other side look unimpressed, but it allows Leo to reach in through the whole and unlock the door. 

“You know it’s rude to leave guests outside for so long.” Leo says, as he pushes the door open. 

“Even if they arrive uninvited?” Scarface growls. 

Leo chuckles. “Hey, I heard you over the speaker. It sounds like me and my friends are the main event.” he says. “Now, where could I find that microphone?”

That’s when big older guy steps up. Leo recognizes him as the guy from the trade that night where the super team broke in, but there’s something more than that. The face, the eyes, they all look disturbingly like someone he knows. 

Shit. He looks like Jason. 

Heat boils up in the pit of Leo’s stomach. White hot rage heats up behind his eyes, and Leo has to physically restrain himself from decking him right then and there. 

“And what makes you think that you can just waltz in here and take it without giving anything in return?”

Leo stiffens at his words. “What do you mean in return?”

“Well it’s simple, really. You’re the little boy from the garage and you have something we want.”

What? What does he have? An ability to fix cars, sad memories of his mom, a lot of grease stained clothes? What does Leo have from the garage that they could possibly want?

“Don’t play dumb.” Scarface says, stepping towards Leo, and putting a hand at his throat. “We want the piece. The one your mother stole all those years ago.”

Leo’s skin heats up with excitement. They think the piece still exists. They have no clue it was destroyed in the fire, and Leo feels incredibly enthralled for someone who is currently on the verge of being choked out. 

“Oh, that old thing? Well. That’s very important to me. How is that a fair deal for the microphone?”

Scarface’s grip on his throat tightens, and Leo regrets his flair for the dramatics. He concentrates on heating up a part of his body he hasn’t before, and it feels weird, but it pays off when his neck is set alight, and he burns ol’ Scarface’s hand. 

Leo glances behind him, and sees a particularly tough zombie worker carrying a box towards the office. Leo sees this as his big chance. 

Scarface, although a bit burned, gets back up on Leo’s grill. He’s fast and mean, and Leo takes a hit to the face that he knows will bruise, but he’s not afraid of him. Leo’s seen the Luke behind the Scarface, and if Annabeth can stand up to him, Leo sure as hell can too. 

“No deal.” Leo says, knocking Luke in the head. “I’ll be taking the microphone, and keeping my part to myself.”

“Like hell you will.”

Before Luke has a chance to hit Leo again, Leo knees him in the stomach and pushes him back into the desk. 

“That was for my friend Reaper.”

Luke gets a wistful look on his face, but Leo doesn’t dwell, as he has one more bone to pick before he gets that microphone with the guy who decided to text a dangerous machine on his friend.

Leo turns to Jason's dad, and cracks his knuckles. He lets the white hot anger fuel him up again as he lunges with his fist out front. Unfortunately, the other man is fast, and he grips Leo's hand before he has the chance to hit him. He squeezes hard at Leo's wrist, looking him right in the eye. 

“Do you think I’m threatened by you?

“No.” Leo says, simply. “But I think you should be.”

And with that, Leo sends a spark through his arm and lights the whole thing on fire, effectively burning the hand wrapped around his wrist, and sending sparks out into the whole room as well. Jason's dad groans in pain.

Serves him fucking right, Leo thinks. He kicks him back towards Luke, and bolts out of the office. He intercepts giant zombie worker and grabs the box before running back towards his friends. 

“Creature, Opia, let’s go!” Leo yells. 

Piper hears him first. She zooms down, and wraps her arm around his tightly before shooting back up into the sky. Leo yelps at his first airborne experience, nut makes sure to hold on tight to Piper and to what he has in his hands. They can’t find Frank for a second, but then about thirty zombie workers get knocked to the ground, and they find him standing in the middle of the pile. Leo’s eyes widen at his first glimpse of what the “Creature” really is. It’s fleeting, simply just claws and wings retracting, but it puts Leo in awe. 

“Creature, come on.” Piper yells, and Frank finally catches on. He runs towards the loading dock, and Piper and Leo follow suit. They run into more zombie workers, but all it takes is Frank plowing through them to get past. 

In a rush, they’re out of the building, over the fence, down through the hills, and back at Piper’s car. They pile in, each one of them gasping for breath. 

Leo pulls off his mask, Piper waves her jewel away, and Frank throws his metallic green gloves to the side. 

Leo looks down into his lap, praying to anything out there that this isn’t some horrible prank. 

He opens the box and inside is a pristine microphone, with two glowing red buttons on the side, and a card addressed to Hera. 

Piper’s eyes widen next to him as she looks down. 

“Oh my god.” Frank breathes. “That’s the microphone.”

Leo doesn’t even know how to respond because holy shit. 

They actually got it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ya'll!  
> We are back in business! I've been reinvigorated with this story and have been really excited to keep writing. I'm just so happy with the place the story is in and what's going to happen next so please stay tuned! We are getting ever closer to election night and the end of this fic :0 so thank you all for sticking with me and I hope you are enjoying reading this self indulgent fic as I am writing it.  
> Thanks again for all the comments and kudos, you are all lil angels.  
> New update soon!


	20. I think this is gonna work

“Dude, I don’t know what to do in this situation.” Piper says, once the three of them are back in her apartment with the microphone in tow. “We’ve experienced a very minimal success rate in taking things from the other side, so I have no clue what to do with it.”

“Destroy it, right?” Frank asks, picking it up and looking it over. “That’s the logical thing to do.”

“I think we should figure out how it works first.” Leo says. “There’s no doubt they’ll be able to make a new one of these before Election night, so let’s see how it works and how we can destroy it from there. We should though, get Annabeth and Jason over here.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” Piper says, waving her phone a little. “Just got a text from Jason that says, why does you and Leo going on missions always make such a big scene?”

“And what did you text back?”

“Because we get stuff done.” she says, smugly. Leo chuckles and gives her a high five. 

As Piper foresaw, the other two members of their group arrive soon after, and Leo smiles a little when he sees that Jason is wearing the metal glove he made him. 

“Are you hurt?” is the first words out of Jason’s mouth, as he walks over to Piper. 

“Jason, I am fine.” Piper says, gently. “If I was hurt, you would know.”

Leo knows he needs to get used to Jason favoring Piper’s safety first, but he still likes to mess with him a little. 

“Hey, I’m the one with a fried jacket sleeve who took a big fuckin’ blow from Scarface.” Leo says, pulling attention back onto him. “My nose is going to be purple for a week.”

“You saw him?” Annabeth asks, voice a little softer than usual. 

Leo nods. “Yeah. And I sent him your regards in the form of a burned up palm and an offensive hand gesture.”

Annabeth gives a short laugh. “Thanks, Leo.”

Leo contemplates mentioning that he had a run in with Jason’s dad, but he decides against it. He thinks that right now it would be too much for Jason to handle. 

“Come look at what we got.” 

Leo draws the other two over to the microphone, and they sit in a circle around it. 

Leo, Piper, and Frank explain what they heard about it being used by Mayor Hera, and how it is supposed to help her control minds. 

“Well we know she has that kind of power on her own, but I guess this is supposed to amplify it.” Jason says. “You know, get the whole city to vote for her.”

“And probably join her zombie legion.”

“I’m sorry, her what?”

And then they have to explain all about the zombie workers. Leo also throws in the fact that Hera and her henchmen still think they have the piece his mom was hiding. Jeez. Lots to cover after just one night. Annabeth and Jason process it all quickly, and attention is soon brought back to the microphone itself. 

“So we should probably try this out, like Leo suggested.” Frank offers. “Have someone talk into it.”

Eyes in the circle, subconsciously fall onto Piper. 

“What? Why me?”

Silence falls over the group for a second. Piper looks around at her friends, questioning. Finally, Annabeth sighs. 

“I mean, come on, Piper.” she says. “You control and manipulate emotions. You can do it with your voice, I’ve seen you; and I hate to say it, but your powers and her powers are almost one in the same.”

“I’m not the same as her.” Piper says, sharply. 

Annabeth looks at her calmly. “I didn’t say you were.”

Piper takes a breath. “Sorry. I know you didn’t.” she says, shaking her head. “I’ll do it. Give it to me.”

She takes the microphone, and the group huddles around to listen. 

“What should I say?” 

“Uh, just try and convince us to vote for you, I guess! That’ll be what we’re up against.”

Piper nods. She looks a little nervous as she’s about to start, but she powers through. Piper shuts her eyes, taps her forehead to reveal the jewel that sits there, and begins to speak. 

“Citizens. As you all know, we are heading towards election night.” 

Piper’s voice sounds different in a way that Leo can’t pinpoint. It’s like he feels every word out of her mouth in his bones.   
“And on this election night, the fate of this city is in your hands. You have the power to send us to ruin, or you can vote for me.”

She laughs into the microphone, and Leo feels himself laughing too. 

“By voting for me, you can ensure that you will be protected. Safe, protected, and happy, only if you vote for me.”

Piper keeps talking, but the words kind of blur out of Leo’s mind. It doesn’t even matter what she’s saying, Leo wants to listen. And he wants to do what she says. 

And then all of a sudden, the voice stops. It takes a second to come down, but Leo shake his head out, and his vision refocuses. He looks around to see that him, Jason, Frank, and Annabeth had all moved forward to be right up beside Piper. She shoves the microphone into Leo’s hands.   
“It works.” she says, visibly shaken up from what just happened. “Now, can you figure out how to break it? Please?”

Jason takes the microphone from Leo and throws it roughly against the floor. It cracks into a few pieces. Wires stick out and the red light fades out. Jason looks to Piper. 

“How’s that?”

Piper relaxes just a bit. “Better.”

Leo wrinkles his nose a little as he picks up the broken pieces, but he can’t blame Jason for doing it. The way that microphone scared Piper made him kind of want to smash it to pieces too. 

“Hey, I’m going to my room for a second.” Piper says, running her hands through her hair. She heads towards her bedroom, and stops when she notices Jason trailing after her. “Please don’t follow me.”

Jason raises his hands in submission, and watches her as she turns back on her heels and heads into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. 

Leo ducks his head and picks up the remaining pieces of microphone and tosses them into the box it came out of, before looking up at Jason. He spares one more glance at Piper’s door before clapping his hands together. 

“Okay. If we’re all here anyways, we should probably start working on our election day attack plan.” 

Leo is surprised, but doesn’t disagree. Jason is taking charge of the situation in a way he hasn’t done since he found out about how he got his powers, so Leo isn’t going to stop him. 

“Uh yeah, sure. Let’s do it.”

And they get into it.The get a notebook, and start mapping everything out. Annabeth easily draws a map of the city over two pages, scaling out the area in front of city hall, as that’s where the acceptance speech for the new mayor will be held. Jason, Leo, and Frank will all be in the crowd near the front with Hazel. Annabeth and Piper will be in the crowd as well, with one in the middle and one in the back. The plan is for when fighting starts, Leo will go straight for Hera and do his best to get the microphone. Annabeth will take on Luke, and Frank will assist her against any other super kids that might be fighting too. Piper’s job will hopefully be to try and counteract whatever brainwashing Hera is doing with her own set of powers, but all are flexible in the fact that she may not be comfortable with that. And finally, Jason is on full time citizen protection mode. They’re hoping to get some kind of crowd moving, safety transportation from their reinforcements as well, but that’ll be planned at their meeting on Wednesday. 

As they venture into timing for all of this, Piper returns from her room. She’s no longer dressed as Opia, having traded her pink jumpsuit for the Caltech sweats she often dons. She runs her hands through her hair again and plops herself down beside Jason. 

“Sorry.” she says. “I’m okay, I just needed a minute.”

The group nods, understanding what it’s like to need a break from powers for a second. 

“So, where were we? Election day planning?

Leo steals a glance at Jason, looking back at him to see what they should do in the situation. Jaosn gives him a slight nod.   
“Piper.” Jason says, setting a hand on her knee. “We can move on if you want, but we’re also hear to talk.”

She shakes her head, gently. “It’s nothing, really. Same old stuff I always worry about. I just know that my powers are really easy to go from doing good to doing bad, so I had to take a break to remind myself I always try my hardest to do good.”

She glances up at the group. “I’m really fine. So we can go back to planning now.”

Jason squeezes her knee and she gives him a soft smile. 

“Well, you heard her. Back to planning.”

They walk Piper through and then more planning after that leads into the group feeling more confident in their super team than they have in a long time. 

“I’ll copy this, and make sure you all get one.” Annabeth says, stuffing the notebook back into her backpack. “Otherwise, see you at the reinforcements meeting?” 

The rest of the group nods. “See you.”

Annabeth heads down the fire escape and Jason follows suit, deciding to get in a little more city defending before turning in for the night. Leo and Frank realize they should get going too, and start to collect their things. Once they’re all ready to go, Frank quickly steps over to Piper and gives her a big hug. She chuckles a little bit and hugs him back. Once Frank steps back, Leo wastes no time in stepping forward and giving Piper a big hug too, and a kiss on top of her head. 

“See you, Wednesday.” 

“See you.”

*

Leo doesn’t see any of his super friends except for Frank until Wednesday. Which is fine. It gives Leo more time to be working on all the tech stuff he’s got in the works for the team. Right now, the master plan is sitting at one individual thing for each person, and then two or so group pieces, but that really all depends on Leo’s level of procrastination. 

Everybody knows building and machines are Leo’s favorite things in the world, but sometimes a guy has to actually do schoolwork, and other times he wants to watch tik tok compilations, and other other times he wants to make tik toks of Frank snoring with the vibrato filter over it, and building machines just doesn’t make it into the schedule. But today, he’s been working hard so he’s feeling pretty good. 

In fact, he works the whole day away, and suddenly Frank is in costume ready to go, and Leo hasn’t even thought about getting out of his bunk. 

“I’m getting Hazel and Connor.” Frank informs him. “Because Nico knows us, can you just tell him to come to the beach house? I don’t want to run all the way over to Percy’s and back that’s out of the way.”

Leo chuckles. “Yeah, sure.”

Frank grins at him. “Thanks, man. Got more toaster strudels by the way if you want any.”

“A man after my own heart.”

As Frank heads out the door with a big long coat over his super suit, Leo supposes he should start getting ready too. He dials Nico and puts him on speakerphone as he starts to pull his super stuff out of his bottom drawer. 

“Ah, my favorite fire bender.” 

Leo chuckles. “Hey, Nico. What’s up?”

“Literally nothing. As usual.”

“Good. We have a reinforcements meeting tonight.”

“Hm. Okay.” he answers. “Is it the same place it was last time?”

“You know it.”

“Cool. Text me the exact time you want me there and I’ll show up all blindfolded and confused like the other two.”

Leo laughs again. “Perfect. Thank you.”

They hang up, and Leo texts him a time that is about ten minutes before Frank should be there with the other two. 

Leo gets all suited up before slipping on his jacket and frowning at the place where his right sleeve used to be. He doesn’t regret wrecking Jason’s dad, the big jerk, but he wishes he didn’t burn off that part of his costume forever. Oh well. Nothing he can do about it at the moment. 

He shoves a Toaster Strudel into his pocket, and as Frank has left him high and dry, Leo is going to, as casually as possible, take the bus to the little beach house. It’s a pretty shit plan, but come on. Leo doesn’t really have another option. 

Maybe Connor will do a podcast segment on him like “Superheroes! They’re just like us! Fire boy likes to take the bus!” That would be fun. Despite the staggering issues with his plan, Leo hops on the bus and takes a seat towards the back. He kicks his feet up into the seat in front of him and stares out the window at the city he’s passing by. It’s a calm drive and Leo hangs out uninterrupted. That is, until he feels a little tap on his shoe. Leo’s gaze is pulled down to a little boy who looks like him with a crazy grin on his face. Not in like a crazy sense like Leo is staring into his secret tiny twins eyes or anything, but the kid, who is probably about eight, has the same black curls and coppery skin that Leo does. Leo furrows his brows for a second before glancing up at the woman behind the little boy. 

“I’m so sorry to bother you.” she says, shaking her head. “But he wouldn’t let me get off the bus without bringing him over to you.”

“I LOVE YOU!” the little boy says, tapping at Leo’s shoes again. “I didn’t know Fire Boy rides the bus! Me and my mom ride the bus everywhere and never did I ever never think I would see a SUPERHERO on THE BUS. You know lots of people make fun of me cause we don’t have a car and we take the bus everywhere but FIRE BOY DOES TOO.”

Heat rushes to Leo’s chest and his cheeks, and he really feels like crying for a second at this little boy looking up at him like he’s the sun. 

“You know what.” Leo says, “The buses are the best way to get around. Only true superheroes have the level of cool to be able to take the bus.”

The little boy’s eyes light up. “Really?”

Leo nods. “Oh yeah. Only the smartest and nicest kids in town get to ride.”

The boy gets this little bounce in his step as he turns back and yanks on his mom’s shirt. “Picture picture, please please please.”

The mom gives Leo another apologetic smile, before turning to her son. “You need to ask him if that’s alright.”

“Can I have a picture with you?”

Leo knows it’s probably breaking the rules, but he doesn’t give a fuck.   
“Of course you can, my man.” Leo says, offering the boy a fistbump. “What’s your name big guy?”

“Harley! Like the motorcycle!”

Jeez, this kid is really after Leo’s heart. 

“Well, get over here, Harley.”

Leo sits up and throws an arm around Harley, giving his best super face to the camera. 

“Now what do you say?”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Fire Boy!”

Leo smiles again. “No problem. I’ll call you next time I have to save the city, okay?”

Harley nods furiously and skips off back to his seat. His mom lingers as she puts her camera away. 

“Thank you so much.” she says, seriously. “I’m not even sure you’re the real fire boy, but it doesn’t matter. You made my son feel like he is important, which makes you a hero in my book.”

She gives a smile and Leo watches her walk away with a lump in his throat. In that moment it all kind of hits back into perspective for him. It’s at a point where Leo isn’t just fighting undercover to save the city. Now there are real actual people out there who are looking up to him. Counting on him. And not even in that bullshit way of like “Oh the whole city is counting on you Superman” or whatever; there are kids out there like Harley, kids who’ve never seen a superhero who rides the bus or looks like them before in their lives, counting on him to be their hero. 

And Leo’s gotta say, it lights him up in a way that he’s come to love. When Leo steps into that reinforcements meeting, he feels incredibly energized, and the whole team seems to feed off it as well. Leo leads a whole discussion with Hazel and Nico both at his sides, and despite having a lack of new information, the group of them work to alter and include them in the plans for Election day. 

Hazel reminds them she’ll be in the crowd, and Connor will be there as press because of his day job, so they are both really down for helping with citizen displacement when things go bad. Nico agrees to help too, but because Nico knows more than they do, he has the ability to help the team in other ways as well. 

Hazel, Nico, and Connor help them to decide that the three main points are going to be get the microphone, somehow get to the super machine/super kids it’s making and shut down, and to get Hera once and for all. No one is really quite clear on what “getting” her means, but Leo intends to get her so hard that she never shows her face in this town ever again. 

After about two hours of work, the group sits back and admires their lists and plots and diagrams. 

“Guys,” Leo says, looking up at the people around them. “I know we lowkey still don’t know what we’re doing, and how this is going to play out….but I think this is gonna work.”

“I do too.” Hazel says, giving Leo a warm smile. 

“So do I.” Frank throws in. 

“It’s a great plan.” Annabeth adds. “If anything was going to help us take her down, this is the plan to do it.”

“We might actually have a shot”

“I think you’re right.”

“Me too.”

Everyone’s eyes slowly drift to Jason, who’s been noticeably absent in the chiming in for success. He glances up from his metal glove and locks eyes with Leo. A half smile creeps onto his face.   
“We’re gonna win this thing.”

Leo grins. Couldn’t have said it better himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an on time update?? We're on a ROLL!  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter! We are so close to the end I can taste it!! There is only going to be one more chapter before we dive into the beast that is election night and I honestly cannot wait for all of us to get into those set of chapters together.  
> I want to thank you all so much for being patient and supportive of this story. I am so happy with how far it has come and I cannot wait to give it the monumental ending it deserves.  
> As always, thanks for comments and kudos I love them so so much!  
> New update next week!


	21. Their last meeting before election night.

“Leo!”

“What?” Leo sticks his head out of the assignment he and Hazel have been half doing for the past two days, in between their own personal preparations for the election day. Which has been incredibly difficult to keep straight by the way. Leo has to keep stopping himself from confirming he has superhero tech finished to Hazel, and that he finished picket signs to Piper. Leo thinks all the covering up of the super stuff might actually be harder than the butt kicking. 

“I asked you your shirt size three times!” Hazel says, balling up a shirt from her box and tossing it at Leo’s head. “So tell me your dang shirt size!”

Leo chuckles a little at her indignance, but he’s pretty well focused on their machine so he decides to be cheek about it. 

“I’m wearing a shirt! Just check that out and you’ll get your answer.”

Leo half expects her to ignore him and toss another shirt at him, but Hazel isn’t one to back down. She sidles up behind him and Leo takes a deep breath in as Hazel hooks her hands into the collar of his shirt. 

Leo’s not worried. He’s been so used to pushing his feelings down over the past few weeks that this is nothing. Hazel could do anything sans kiss him on the mouth and admit her deepest feelings for him, and Leo could get away unscathed, with the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

“Medium.” she says. “You’re a little thing aren’t you.”

“Says the one who is 5’2 at best.”

She chuckles and presses a kiss to his cheek before returning to her box and sifting through to make sure everyone on their team will receive the shirt on election night. Leo glances at his phone to read the time. His shift with Hazel is almost up. Which is very good. Of course Leo loves spending time with Hazel, he truthfully wishes he could do it so much more, but with all the election night preparation, Leo barely has time to sleep. And right now he really wants to be working on his super tech. Hazel has everything covered with the protest, and Leo really does not have everything covered with the tech he is supposed to be finished with by the meeting later today. Their last meeting before election day. 

So long story short, Leo really needs to finish his tech. Thankfully, Frank comes to tap him out a little over five minutes later. 

“Hey, sorry I’m late.” Frank says, taking off his coat. He reaches to unravel his scarf, but hesitates and leaves it on, before walking over to give Hazel a kiss. He offers Leo a hand, and he takes it, using Frank’s grip to stand himself up. Leo chuckles a little as Frank realizes he grabbed Leo’s hand that was covered in oil, but the big guy is used to it now. He just grimaces for a second before rubbing his now blackened hand down the back of Leo’s shirt, returning what is rightfully his. 

“Well, Haze. I gotta go.” Leo says, stepping over and ruffling her hair with his clean hand. “Good luck with planning, I’ll probably see you later. Let me know if you need anything.”

She nods. “Bye Leo! And thank you for everything you’ve helped with on this. Seriously, thank you.”

Leo gives her a soft smile and collects the bag he’s kept stuffed away in the back of his and Frank’s closet. 

“Hey,” Frank says, catching Leo before he leaves. “Five tonight, okay? Don’t be late.”

Leo nods. “I know. I won’t.”

“What’s at five?”

“Pottery class.” they answer in unison. 

Hazel narrow her eyes for a second, before her face realizes. “You know what, I don’t even want to know. My head is already thinking about too much stuff.”

Leo breathes easier as Hazel’s head dips back to her schedule, and Leo is allowed to head out. He makes a beeline for the workshop space he’s rented out for the day. It’s pretty small, smaller than Leo likes to work with, but it’s worlds better than Piper’s living room or his dorm room so he tries not to complain too much. Once the door is locked behind him, Leo dumps the contents of his bag, very gently, onto the worktable, and organizes the half finished pieces and his thoughts all at once. 

_Tech Leo has for his super friends (And some he really needs to finish)_

  * _Jason: Yikes. This one is the worst. Because for so long, Leo didn’t know what to do for him. Dude doesn’t want to fight! Eventually, Leo decided on little jets for Jason’s boots to make him run faster, and an improvement to his metal glove that gives him a better fit and allows him to record. It’s not the greatest, but Leo, maybe best of all, knows that Jason’s heroic stuff doesn’t need tech or frankly powers to shine through. Leo has to finish the jets!_


  * Piper: A microphone. It’s a risky move, Leo knows that, but they all talked about this. If no one can get to the microphone, their best bet is to have Piper try and overpower Hera with her good words. This microphone would hook over Piper’s ear and stop right in front of her mouth. Leo has yet to finish figuring out how to make a microphone, but in his spare time he did develop a cape tucker for her so she doesn’t have it whipping around at all times. 


  * Annabeth: Leo is often worried about Annabeth getting hurt in just a tank top and pants, so he made her some modern day Joan of Arc ass battle armor. Arm panels that strap to her sides, a new and improved metallic knife strap, and knee pads for when she inevitably gets to her knees and elbows ol’ Scarface in the dick. Leo’s also bestowing to her a duplicate of his extended arm, cause he thinks she’ll like that. 


  * Frank: Fulfilling his wolverine fantasy, Leo is in the process of making claws for Frank that strap on over his gloves and burst out when he needs them. Leo just has to finish wiring the spring that will open them up and out.


  * All: Earpieces that allow them to hear and communicate with each other even when they’re spread out across the city. Also almost like earplugs so no one gets brainwashed.



And that’s a yikes from Leo. He shakes all the pressure from his brain, sets a timer for four hours, and taps out an I love you before going to work. 

*

Four hours later, what’s done is done. Leo could toil over these things for four more hours, wanting to get the stuff for his friends as great as possible, but with limited time, he must concede and head back to the dorm to grab his super stuff. He packs everything up into his bag and abuses his super speed a little to get back quickly. Frank is waiting for him, bundled up in super gear and his winter coat and boots. As if that makes the metallic green scaled legs less conspicuous. Leo chuckles and gets into his stuff, knowing that once he’s dressed he doesn’t look any more normal than his roommate. Leo changes quickly, and pulls his mask down over his eyes before turning to Frank. Frank gives him a smile, and Leo is hit with this weird huge wave of nostalgia. He smiles. 

“We’ve come a long fucking way, haven’t we?”

Frank laughs lightly. “That’s for sure. You hated me.”

Leo’s gaze softens. “I didn’t hate you, dude. I just thought you were a loser.”

“Oh cause that’s better.”

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Leo says genuinely. “It just took me a while to figure out I was a loser too. And being a loser isn’t all that bad.”

Frank rolls his eyes a little, but the smile remains on his face. 

“I’m glad I got to do all this super stuff with you.” Leo admits. “Really really glad.”

“Likewise.”

They stand there for a minute, before Frank opens his arms and Leo doesn’t hesitate to step over to Frank and give him the biggest hug. A hug that could only get tighter and more bone crushing if Leo inherited super strength. Frank is the one who eventually steps back.   
“We’re gonna be late if we stand here any longer.”

Now it’s Leo’s turn to roll his eyes. “Fine fine. Break up the sentimental as fuck lovey dovey ass best friends moment we just had. I get it. It’s fine.”

Frank laughs. “We have more time for that later. But first, we have a city to save, don’t we?”

Leo sees the glint in Frank’s eyes that he wasn’t sure if he ever would. 

“Fuck yeah we do.”

*

The final super meeting is first and foremost filled with a lot of hugs. Leo and Frank barely make it through the window to Piper’s apartment without being tackled in hugs by both Piper and Jason. Annabeth receives the exact same treatment when she arrives a few minutes later, but with the added bonus of getting hugs from Leo and Frank as well. It feels like a high school reunion, where they haven’t seen each other in years by the way they’re greeting each other, when in reality it’s been about two days. Leo has come to terms with the fact that this is what having best friends is like. When he’s away from them for a second, it feels like forever. That’s why he is incredibly glad to be back. The group of them take their seats on Piper’s floor, sitting in the circle they usually do. It’s quiet for a second until Leo realizes everyone is waiting for him to start. 

Fuck. He forgets sometimes. After Jason stepped down, all the leader-y power has been ceded to him. And even after Jason joined back up, Leo is still the pointman they all look to. Which he has to admit, he kind of loves. 

“Alright everybody, welcome to our last meeting before our impending victory and or doomsday!” 

The group laughs and offers a triumphant cheer.   
“So we haven’t got an insane amount of stuff to talk about, as we’ve really put in the work over the past week, so I think all we have is….” Leo wracks his brain for a second, “I’ve got tech for everyone to get fitted into, hence why you have your costumes on, we go over the plan one more time, integrating what we’re doing during the day, before the inevitable election, and I’m just assuming there’s going to be an emo heart to heart at the end? Maybe a big speech?”

Piper laughs. “Pretty fuckin accurate.”

“Sick! Then let’s do this.”

Like many nights before, Annabeth unravels the big map of downtown, and they discuss their plans, starting from bright and early at 8am all the way down to 10pm, when they retire back to Piper’s apartment and order themselves a bunch of takeout, and finally finish that netflix show that Annabeth and Frank have been intermittently watching for weeks. Their plan is good. Better than good, actually. They’ve thought through what is most likely to happen, what is less likely to happen but still plausible, even what will never happen in a million years, but they still wanted to be prepared for it. WIth this strong ass super team, their reinforcements, and a lot of the city on their side, Leo wants nothing more than to take on Hera right now. It’ll be hard, but with the semester they’ve had, Leo is pretty sure they can handle kicking a brainwashing old lady’s ass. 

Plans are covered. They fold up the paper and shove it away, knowing that if they try and obsess over every little detail anymore than they already have, it’ll just be overkill. 

“Okay, Leo you said you brought tech?”

Leo nods, feeling a wash of warm excitement bubbles up in his stomach. He’s good, he knows he’s pretty much a genius when it comes to the stuff, but he really really really hopes his friends like their stuff. That’s what actually matters to him. 

He grabs his bag and gently pours it all out into the circle, before separating stuff by person and shoving it to the respective owner. 

“Merry Christmas!”

Leo kind of lets them go wild with trying things on at first, which proves to be not the greatest idea. Despite being superheroes, the whole monkey brain locking onto a shiny new toy thing overrides that, and in 0.2 seconds, Piper has burst everyone’s ear drums with her microphone, and Frank was about an inch away from skewering Jason with his claws. Leo reigns the group back in and walks each of them through what they can and cannot do with their new tech, and things calm down exponentially. After going over individual. Leo has all of them put in their earpieces, and Leo puts in his own as well. They split up throughout Piper’s apartment, with Leo sliding into her bathtub, and showing how they will all be able to communicate with each other.

“Leo, these are amazing.” Jason says, his voice resonating into Leo’s earpieces. “Seriously, all this stuff you made us is so cool. It must’ve taken you days.”

Leo warms at his words. “All in a day’s work, J.”

“We love you, Leo. Thank you for filling the void of being a knockoff Iron Man.”

“Oh, anything for you Piper.”

After a few more gushy comments, the group returns to the living room. 

Leo lets them all pack up their respective tech, and then they’re back in their circle again. 

“So,” Leo says, cursing himself as he claps his hands together like Jason used to. “Out of costumes now?”

Piper and Frank share a look. “Actually, before we all change,” Piper begins, “We all have a present for you, Leo.”

Leo raises his eyebrows. “Why?”

Annabeth laughs. “What do you mean why? It’s a present because you made us all stuff and we, as your best friends, wanted to return the favor, okay?”

Leo feels like he’s wrapped in a heated blanket. 

“Okay.”

“So, you’ve been complaining recently.” Jason says. 

“A lot.” Frank chimes in. 

“A fuckton.” Annabeth adds. 

“Yeah, kind of a lot.” Jason agrees, “and we heard you, we really did. It’s just that we had this all under control, and in talks for a long time, but obviously we couldn’t tell you that so we had to put up with all your complaining for like months.”

“I thought this was a present! Why am I getting scolded?”

Piper laughs. “You’re not, you’re not. We’re just saying good things come to those who wait!”

She gets up from her seat and runs into her room. She appears a second later with a box in hand, and sets it in front of Leo. 

“This is from all of us!” Piper says with a smile. “We hope you like it, and it gives you just a hint of how thankful we are to have you on this team with us.”

Leo grins and quickly rips into the box. And when he sees what’s inside, he almost cries. 

The first thing his eyes catch is the coppery goldy bronzy color of the suit. It’s almost metallic looking, with small flames and bursts of fire etched into the fabric, just like they were on Leo’s handmade suit. It’s got both sleeves and legs and gloves and a mask, and it’s really just perfect. 

“We all worked on it together.” Frank tells him. “ Annabeth and Jason got all the fireproof fabric so that your costume won’t burn up when you wear it, Piper sewed it all together, and I- well I designed it for you and took your measurements while you were sleeping.”

Leo ignores the creepy little comment from Frank in favor of focusing on how this team that was so discombobulated when he met them, worked directly together to do something for him. And the fact that he had that kind of influence makes him feel more like a superhero than he maybe ever has. 

“Thank you.” Leo says softly. “Thank you guys so fucking much.”  
“Try it on!!” Piper says, clapping her hands together. 

The rest of the group joins in on the cheers, and Leo bounds over to Piper’s room to give them what they want. He tosses off his old handmade costume, and slips into the new one. It fits like a glove. Leo slips the fingerless gloves over his hands and snaps them into place, and finally he puts on his mask. His goldy bronzy coppery mask that twists around his head like up into two points little flames that Leo would absolutely love to headbutt a villain with. He takes a deep breath and turns around to glance at himself in Piper’s full length mirror. 

Whoa. 

Heat runs through Leo’s body. Flames lick at his palms, and Leo lets it out. He’s excited, he’s in awe, he can light up his palms and then press them back onto his new costume and the flame fades back in. 

He can’t stop staring at himself. Because he looks like Jason. Not really Jason, he’s not blonde and hunky, but he looks like Jason looks when he’s Metal Man. Like a real super dude out of comic books and over blown Marvel movies. 

He looks like a hero. 

And that’s a way that Leo has never seen himself before. 

He kind of wants to pull a Narcissus and stare at himself forever and ever, admiring the beauty and sexy golden attire he has been gifted, but he somehow rips himself away and exits the room. He leads with one foot. Sticking it out of the door, and hearing the whooping from his friends. 

Leo takes his time, really owning the fact that he’s on his own personal America’s next top model for the next two minutes, and pulling himself from the doorway with slow sultry movements. He struts into the center of the circle, striking pose after pose, which become incredibly more ludacris and goofy as it goes on. The group cheers. Leo finally gives up the act and sits himself down in the middle of the circle, before tugging his best friends into a group hug. His arms reach around them almost completely, and as much as his limbs allow, he tries to tap and I love you onto each of their backs. And to his surprise, he receives an I love you too tapped onto his arm. He turns his head and catches Annabeth’s gaze with a smile. 

“Did you think you were the only one who knows morse code?” she asks, softly beside him. 

“I don’t anymore.” he whispers back. 

She smiles, and nuzzles her head a little closer in to Leo’s neck. They hold like that for a pretty long time, but then Leo’s arms start to cramp, and everyone is kneeling and it’s just not the move so they pull back. 

But in doing so, they don’t lose the sentimental emotional streak they’re all on. 

“I think it’s about time for that emo heart to heart.” Leo says with a wet laugh. 

“We can’t go too deep though.” Piper says, laughing a little too. “I have my feelings to handle, and all of yours on top of that, so it’s a lot.”

The group laughs, but agrees to keep the conversation as heartfelt as possible, but not too emotional. Everyone seems to clam up in thought for a second, and surprisingly Annabeth breaks the silence first. 

“I know you all know this, but in the beginning I didn’t really want to be part of the team. I joined up for a lot of the wrong reasons. I wanted to track Luke, find out where he was and what he was doing. I wanted to get revenge, I wanted to find a way to get my own powers and fight back, and at that point, I had never felt more isolated in my life. But no matter how mean I was, or how much I pushed every single one of you away, you kept coming back.” she smiles, slipping her hand into Piper’s and Leo’s on either side of her. “Which is a feat. I’m very hard to deal with. But what I’m trying to say is you guys didn’t give up on me, and you showed me how important it is to be good. Be good to myself, and be good to the people who need us, so, thanks.”

“I want to say thank you too.” Frank says, after Annabeth finishes. “You guys know I wasn’t into the hero stuff either, and I still struggle with feeling like this is forced on me rather than my choice, but you guys have been, and continue to be the biggest bright spot for me.”

Leo smiles at the big guy. It takes a lot of courage to stay that he’s still scared, and being a hero is still hard for him. God, Leo loves Frank. He really fucking does. 

Jason clears his throat a little, taking time to take a deep breath before he gives his mini emo speech. 

“You all know me. You know that I’ve always wanted to be and felt like a hero. I had a lot of control, and faith, and nothing could really bring me down. And for the first time in my life, something brought me down, and all of you were there to pick up my pieces.” Jason blinks a couple of times before continuing. “And yeah I don’t like talking about how I feel, but I just feel that I have the best group of people around me. And I owe all of you my life. Thank you for letting me stay where I’m comfortable on this team, and at the same time, pushing me out of my comfort zone when I really need it.”

“I thought we weren’t going to get emo!” Piper says, laughing more, wiping at her eyes. 

“Hey we’re trying to reign it in! It’s just hard!”

Piper laughs again. “I know. I know.” she says, squeezing Annabeth’s hand. “I’m a mess, so I’m keeping it short and sweet. I feel the same about what everyone else said, and I just think you guys are the greatest people ever. From where we were when we all started to now is incredible. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know for me, this has been a life changing experience for me and I for one cannot wait to see where we go, and how we crush the shit out of tomorrow and save the city.”

“Fuck yeah!” 

Everyone is taken aback at Frank’s level of enthusiasm, as Frank swears once in a blue moon, but it excites the rest of the group too. They’re all ready to crush it. 

All eyes turn to Leo and he chuckles. He had been waiting to go last. He doesn’t know why really, maybe he just loves the attention, but he wanted to be the one to round everything off. 

“Let’s hear it Valdez.” Jason says, leaning his head down onto Piper’s shoulder.

“Yeah, give us a classic cringey but motivational Leo hero speech.” Piper chimes in. 

“Well, since you’re begging.” 

Leo laughs, but when he really starts to think about what he wants to say, nothing is too funny anymore. 

“I’ll try my best for Piper to keep emo to a minimum, but I fuckin love you guys. I haven’t had the greatest life. I’ll admit it wasn’t bad by any means, but I was never a cool kid, I never really had any friends, and the only one who liked me as much as I liked me was my mom. That stuff on top of everything you already know made me not that happy wonderful sexy guy you see before you. But then I met you guys and everything changed. I had friends, I had powers, I had a purpose, and this burning fire inside me that made me want to fix everything. I’ve felt like a big ass machine that never worked, and you guys really ended up being the missing piece. 

“Oh my god, he used a machine metaphor.” Piper says, shaking Jason’s arm. “He LOVES us.”

Leo laughs. “I know, I know, I’m cheesy and cringey and we’ll all wipe all this out of our brains later and act like Leo maintained his cool persona when he talks about how much he loves his best friends, right?”

“Of course.” 

“Good.” Leo says, with a satisfied smile, and the warm blanket feeling surrounding him. “I love you guys. Let’s kick ass tomorrow, okay?”

With that question, he takes a deep breath, and sticks his fist into the middle of the circle. 

And for the first time, every single person in the room does the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter!  
> Omg we are almost at the END!  
> Can we believe??  
> I sure can't. I hope you enjoy this new chapter! I'm such a gd sucker for feelings and the team so that's the majority of this chapter. I'm hoping the election day/night chapters will be a battle of battle of manhattan level proportions so stay tuned.  
> Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, and giving kudos! It makes me feel wonderful!  
> New update next week


	22. Election Day Part 1

**Tuesday November 5th, Election Day**

**8:00am**

_ “Good morning SoCal. On this brisk November morning I am coming to you with a SoCal Supernatural Exclusive. As you all know, or should know, it is election day, and I have reason to believe something super crazy is going down tonight. As your resident expert on all the weird going ons in this city, I have dedicated myself to multitasking at my press job today and providing you with nonstop coverage on what I see. I can’t promise that things will get interesting until later, but I am committed to the audience, so here I will remain. Check in every couple of hours for new updates!” _

“Okay, just so everyone knows, if you are here you are committed to skipping school for the day.” Hazel says, her voice projecting through her megaphone. “If you are with our group, we have shirts for everyone. We are lining the front of this barricade all day. Two people may leave at a time to vote in the polls, but we want a strong presence here at all times. If you want full schedules, list of chants, or any other questions answered, please see Frank, Jason, or Leo in the orange shirts for any of your needs.”

Leo Frank and Jason wave their hands in the air, signaling to the crowd who they all are. 

There’s more people with them than Leo thought there would be. He shouldn’t be surprised though. Hazel is all kinds of cool and resourceful, so it’s really on brand that she amassed a group of 50+ college kids to skip school for the day and make their voices heard. After she steps down from the step making her tall enough for everyone to see, she disappears down into the sea of people and makes her way over to Leo, Frank, and Jason. 

“My boys!” she squeals, wrapping her arms around them and pulling them all in for a hug. “Thank you so much for helping me with all of this. I especially appreciate the coordinated outfits.”   
Okay yeah. The three of them are wearing fully matching outfits. To be fair, they had to! The majority of their super costumes are underneath sans some accessories, and Frank’s turtlenecks and their longest black jeans and combat boots were necessary additions to the outfit to make sure no one could see what was hiding underneath.

“I’m glad you like it because I’m sweating my ass off in it.”

Hazel rolls her eyes. “Beauty is pain, isn’t it Leo?”   
“I guess I guess.”

At that point, someone who had been patiently standing behind Hazel steps up beside her, eyes directed at Leo. 

“Hi, I was wondering if you would maybe go over some of the chants with me? Or maybe the schedule?” she asks, blinking at him with almond eyes. “I could think of questions to ask too, it doesn’t really matter to me.”

Leo furrows his brows at the really pretty girl in front of him. “Are you talking to me?”

She blushes. “Yeah, I’m talking to you!”

Leo can’t really comprehend that the pretty girl is seeking him out to talk to. Like of course, Leo is a sexy genuis catch of a guy, but girls aren’t usually equipped with that information.

“You’re sure you don’t want him?” Leo asks, motioning to Jason who rolls his eyes. 

“Leo, obviously she wants you. Just go.”

“Well okay then.” Leo turns back to the girl and offers and arm out to her. “Let’s talk over here.”

She smiles and slips her arm around Leo’s which makes him feel all kinds of warm inside. They head a few steps away, where Leo could be away from his friends that he can totally see making faces out of the corner of his eye. It’s nothing crazy. He goes through the schedule with the girl and the chants, and even answers a question. She asks him some stuff about himself too, which is nice. Leo loves attention, everyone knows that. It’s an overall very calming experience, and it’s almost enough to make Leo forget that tonight is the night he’s going to face off with the woman whose involvement in his life lead to his mother’s death. Heavy, right? Leo hasn’t thought about that fact in a long time. He also hasn’t seen Hera in a long time, so it’s going to be a double whammy. It’s really easy to go into this stuff being physically prepared, with super stuff and tech and plans, but Leo doesn’t think any of them have mentally prepared. It’ll be fine probably. They’ll just hang out and cry and watch netflix after like they usually do. Leo’s sure they’ll be okay. 

“You’re zoning out.”

Leo focuses his gaze back on pretty girl. “Hey. Sorry.”

“A lot on your mind?”

“Oh always, sunshine.” the pet name slips out, and Leo doesn’t take it back, because he can see the blush rising on pretty girl’s cheeks again. He can feel it on his own too, but it’s a lot harder to see. “Lots of thoughts to think. Machines to build. Worlds to save.”

She chuckles. “Of course. You’re a busy guy. I should let you get back to it.” she reaches out and squeezes his arm, before standing up. “Bye Leo.”

“Bye!” 

She turns and walks away, and Leo heads back feeling toasty warm. And not just because of the turtleneck. 

“What was that?” Jason asks, with an incredulous grin. “That girl had a fat crush on Leo Valdez!”

“Oh she for sure did!!” Hazel adds on. 

“What was her name?”

Oh shit. Leo knew he forgot something. He makes a face, and the group groans. 

“Leo? You didn’t even ask her?”   
“I’m sorry, okay! I was thinking about-” he stops himself, looking at Hazel. “The election and stuff.”

“That’s fair.” Hazel concedes. “Well, maybe she’ll come back. In the meantime, you better get back to the other boys because there’s a line of about ten more people waiting to ask questions.”

And so, Leo does. 

*

**12:00pm**

As the ringleaders of the whole event, Leo, Hazel, Jason, and Frank decide to multitask and take their voting slot right at the time of their lunch breaks. Leo and Jason head off first to vote, while Hazel and Frank stay behind with their food to stay with the group. They had planned well, as Annabeth and Piper walk in to the polling station about a minute after them. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” Leo grins as Piper presses a kiss to his cheek and Annabeth gives him a hug. 

“I know, right?” Annabeth answers. “What a crazy coincidence.”

They get their voting through quickly, voting for the candidate that actually stands a chance against the mayor, as well as some school board stuff, before grabbing stickers and making the trip back to city hall. It’s a fairly long walk so the team (with Frank listening via earpiece) takes this as an opportunity to discuss. 

“We got here around ten to stake out the perimeter.” Annabeth explains. “The crowds won’t breach beyond the buildings into downtown. There’s cones and cops scattered all over.”

Piper adds, “We also identified exit maneuvers for me and Jason to get citizens out of the way when things go down.”

Leo nods. “And special precautions for our friends?”

Annabeth nods. “Got that too. Obviously you all will be around Hazel so Jason will try his best to get her out of the way first. Connor is on press at the front and we can keep tabs on him via his livestream. Nico is coming with Percy so they’ll hopefully be able to protect each other. 

“That’s really great to hear.” Jason says, and Leo stress, lauding his friends on their hard work. 

For the reminder of their time together, they just talk. Checking in on how they’re all feeling and what they’re all going to do when this is over tomorrow. 

“We’re still on for tea tomorrow, right?” Leo asks Annabeth. 

A glint passed over her eyes. “That’s the hope. Let’s not jinx it.”

Leo salutes her. 

*

**6:00pm**

After ten hours, Leo honestly thought he’d be a lot more tired than he is. True, the wired feeling in his bones may have something to do with the fact he’s gonna be kicking old lady ass in a few short hours, or the fact that he and Frank shotgunned two red bulls around five, but whatever it is, he’s riding this wave of energy until he gets home. 

Thus far there have been a few periods of chanting, some singing, and a couple of discussions but nothing out of control or uproarious as Leo is anticipating tonight. 

Leo checks into the group text to see how the girls are doing. He receives the message that they are doing good and that more and more people are arriving. 

Leo is in the midst of helping Hazel lead a new chant when he feels a tap on his shoulder. Leo turns on his heels to see Nico offering him a headphone. Right next to him is Percy Jackson, and both boys are clad in the shirts Hazel and Jason collaborated on to express their distaste for Hera. 

“You’re not wearing black!” Leo says with a grin. Nico ignores him. “Have you been listening to this?”

Leo assumes it’s Connor’s podcast which he hasn’t listened to in a while. 

“Hey Percy!”

Percy chuckles. “Hey man, he’s been trying to find you so I’d just listen to the thing.”

Leo concedes and takes the headphone. from Nico and slips it into his ear. Nico does the same with the other. Percy heads over to Jason and Frank, leaving the other two boys on their own. 

” _Current polls are stating that Mayor Hera is currently standing as the most likely candidate to win, despite the large number of protestors outside of city hall.” Connor says “As a result of these protesters, largely students from Caltech, Mayor Hera will be reportedly sending out security ahead of her arrival to ensure her safety.”_

Leo pulls it out of his ear. 

“She’s sending Luke and eyepatch?”

Nico nods. “And I'm guessing her other super experiments as well.”

They expected this, so Leo isn’t worried; they just didn’t expect them to come out so early. 

“I should probably keep my head down then.” Leo guesses. 

“Duh.” 

Nico reaches into his pocket and pulls out some sunglasses. “These should be good. “

He shoves them onto Leo’s face and gives an approving half smile. “Well, at least as good as your mediocre mask.”

“Didn’t you hear I got an upgrade?”

“Oh really?” Nico asks. “Do I get a sneak peek?”

Leo flushes at his suggestive tone. He can’t help it, okay? Anytime someone is nice to him as of late, Leo’s face gets all hot. He blames the super powers. 

“You’ll have to wait and see when everyone else does.” he tells Nico. “I promise the reveal will be great.”

“I believe it.”

“Hey Leo, help with chants?”

Leo turns his head to see Hazel waving him down. 

“Go. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Leo smiles and wraps his arms around Nico quickly. Nico reacts a little slower, but eventually gives in to the hug. 

“See you. Be careful.”

“You too.”

*

**7:45**

15 minutes before the polls are set to close, and Leo’s adrenaline is at an all time high. The candidates are both supposed to arrive prior to the polls closing, so the gathered crowd is eagerly awaiting their arrival. Since this morning, the crowds have grown to a few hundred people at least. Leo has spent the last hour or so dodging Scarface’s glances and preparing to actually fight. When Hazel turns her head, Leo slips in his earpiece into one ear and his headphone into another to tune into Connor one last time. 

_“Yes. As expected, things are not looking good for any of you decent human beings out there. Despite our city being late felt and vocally liberal in federal elections, our current Mayor Hera Sospita is taking the lead with incredible force. To be honest there is literally no way for anyone else to win in the time remaining. But we can always hope for some crazy super miracle.”_   
Leo hears the pause where he’s sure Connor is winking at him over the livestream. _“As for real time updates at City Hall, Mayor Candidate Brunner has just left his car and is heading up to the nearest podium. Oh, but he is being intercepted by one of Hera’s security and taken to the other podium. Classic Hera. Taking the new nice podium with the golden microphone and putting the working man at the shitty one.”_

Leo focuses in on the podium with the special microphone, glancing over at Frank who is doing the same thing. 

_ “Oh, and I’m getting word that Mayor Hera will be entering any minute now.” _

Leo rips out his earphone and shoves it into his pocket. 

“She’s on her way.” he tells Hazel. 

“She’s on her way!” Hazel yells into her microphone. “Let’s show her how we feel!”

The crowd roars in agreement, and around a hundred of them start to chant, raising their signs and making their voices heard. As promised, Hera appears at the doorway, flanked by two security. Heat courses through Leo’s entire body and his yells so loud his throat strains, hoping she can hear him specifically out of the whole crowd. She takes her place at the podium, and Leo knows they are about ten minutes away from this shit going down. And he’s never been more ready in his entire life. 

*

**8:15**

The polls have closed. The tension in the air is thick as all hell and Leo just wants to bite the bullet and hear the inevitable results. Thankfully he doesn’t have to wait long as the news notification rings into his phone, and every other person’s phone in the city. 

**MAYOR HERA SOSPITA WINS RE-ELECTION**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new chapter!   
> Sorry to keep you waiting a bit longer for the actual fight but isn’t the build up all part of the fun?   
> The next chapters are gonna be big ol undertakings so I will do my best to get it out in a week but I want it to be the best it can be so next update will be up to how I feel about it! Thanks for understanding!   
> As always thanks for comments and kudos :)


	23. Election Day Part 2

The second her win is announced, the divided crowd roars in reaction; half positive and half, incredibly and explicitly, negative, but Leo tunes them all out in favor of shoving in his other earpiece. When he does so, the world around him numbs, the rumble of the crowd fizzles into a low hum. In response, Leo’s heartbeat pounds in his ears as he watches Hera feign surprise and step closer to the podium. It’s about to start. Leo holds his breath as she taps at the gilded microphone and begins to speak. 

“My lovely citizens. I can’t tell you how glad I am to continue being your mayor for the next three years.”

Even with his earpieces in, Leo can hear the sickeningly enticing tone of her voice. Although he isn’t affected, the same can’t be said for the 99% of people in the crowd without protection. THe shift as she spoke was instantaneous. All around him, voices shut off. Backs straighten. Eyes glaze over, focusing intently on the mayor. Leo’s never experienced this level of power before, and it's a little overwhelming. Especially when he turns to his left to see Hazel with her megaphone hanging limp at her side, dazed like everyone else. 

The site of her makes Leo’s already heated skin feel like it’s boiling. 

“Can we go?” Leo growls into his earpiece. “I’m ready for the fight to start.”

“Not yet.” Jason warns, voice calm in Leo’s ear. “We’re the only ones not hypnotized. We need to use that to our advantage.”

Leo is anxious to fight, but he trusts his friend enough to stand down. He takes a breath and tunes back in to Mayor Hera. 

“Now that I have your undivided attention.” she says, a hint of amusement in her voice. “I think it’s about time I reveal my plans for this city.”

She pulls the microphone from the stand and walks across towards the other candidate. Every pair of eyes follows her. “Of course I promise to do my best for the citizens, plant trees, lower crime, blah blah, blah, but I think at this point it’s fair to say that that was what we told all of you. Meanwhile I have been planning and working incredibly hard behind the scenes for the future of this city.”

The crowd remains silent, but hangs on her every word. She brushes off her blazer and leans her elbow onto the podium with a sigh. 

“If I’m being honest this story  _ really  _ begins when I was a young girl. A young girl with a very special gift.”

Piper audibly groans through Leo’s earpiece. “Is she seriously doing the villain sob story right now? To a crowd of literal zombies? I can’t take this.”

“That makes two of us.”

“But my mother was incredibly insistent that my gift was bad. One that should be kept a secret.”

Hera toils on about her personal isolation and loneliness and outcast status, but Leo is fully over it. Newsflash Hera, powers or not, every fucking kid on earth feels like an outcast at some point. Hell, Leo’s been an outcast his entire life and you don’t see him maniacally taking over the city and exacting revenge on innocent people. 

“A long story made short, becoming mayor was the step I needed to be able to right each one of my wrongs and create the world I’ve been looking to make. Where people who  _ I  _ think deserve to belong in society and be embraced will be, and those who oppose me are sent to the outskirts like I once was.” Hera continues. “And you’d all love to help me with that, wouldn’t you darlings?”

“Yes.” The shallowed out voices of the crowd reply. 

“I’ve had enough of this.” Leo decides. “Can we go?”

Leo glances over at Jason who gives a determined nod. 

“Now.”

Leo pushes through the zombies and bounds about halfway up the stairs towards Mayor Hera, elevating himself enough to be seen before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting: “BOO! Your story sucks!”

Hera’s head whips towards him and he can’t help the grin spread onto his face as she does so. “Yeah, I’m talking to you!” he yells again. “Am I supposed to feel bad for you?”

“I’m sorry.” she says, narrowing her eyes at him. “Who is this little person talking to me? And  _ why _ is he not listening like the others?”

“What can I say, ma’am? I’m a rebel.” Leo tells her, “and as for who I am? I’m your worst fucking nightmare.”

And without a second thought, Leo channels his passion, ferocity, determination, and power into a battle cry, lighting his entire body on fire.His clothes melt away, revealing the gleaming bronze suit below. Leo can hear his friends rising up behind him, but he keeps his eyes firmly on Mayor Hera. Her gaze falters the slightest bit, nothing more than the twitch of her eye, but Leo can tell she’s scared.

“Am I supposed to be impressed by a costume change?” she asks. “You’re not the only one who can do that.”

With the microphone firm in her grip, Hera turns around in a circle, blazer and skirt fading away to be replaced by a deep blue metallic pantsuit and a large crown sitting atop her head. She raises her eyebrows at Leo. He rolls his eyes. 

“Nevermind any of that. I’m tired of this.” Hera says. “Luke, be a darling and take care of the children. Take some of the others if you need it.”

Before good ol’ Scarface could even think about coming for them, the battle begins the second Annabeth runs forward, knives drawn, and tackles Luke to the ground. 

That’s their cue. Their plan has begun. 

It takes all of Leo’s strength, super and non-super, to tell himself his friends are fine. That they can handle themselves, and that he needs to focus solely on Mayor Hera. Getting her and getting the microphone. And thankfully he does it. He turns off his earpiece that connects him to them, and maintains his gaze on Hera. 

“Hm. I wonder how this will pan out.” Hera muses, stepping towards Leo. “Five ragtag college brats, or an all powerful super woman with an army of superior super kids and an entire willing to follow my every command. It’ll be a real nail biter to see who takes this one.”

Leo ignores her attempts to make him doubt himself and his friends.

“I’d say about 99% of the people here are feeding on the same lone braincell so I’m not too worried.”

Hera smirks. “Really. Well. I think I should give you a reason to be.”

Hera turns on her heels and faces out towards the crowd, microphone still firm in her grip.

“Citizens to the left of me, capture the knife wielder and the little witch who broke into my house.” her sickening grin matches the evil tone of voice pouring from her mouth. “I want the right side to take care of Metal Man, an old friend of mine, and my supers to take on the half boy half creature flying around.”

The crowd wastes no time in following the rules of their leader. But Hera isn’t finished yet. 

“While we’re at it, I want a special group of the biggest, angriest citizens to come get my friend here. The little twig from the auto body shop.”

Leo winces at her recognition of who he is, but he doesn’t dwell as he is quickly flanked and held by two massive LA boomers. 

Although the grip is tight, Leo could easily escape by setting on fire, but he doesn’t. He’s smarter than that. He feels the piece of machinery in his suit, The tech he didn’t tell his friends he was making. His own personal element of surprise. 

“So, I know you want nothing more than to crush me into a pulp, but I think that it would be in your best interest to keep me alive.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I have what you want.”

The grips tighten on Leo’s arms, but Hera raises a hand. They immediately back down. 

“And what is it I want?”

“I think you know.” Leo says. And she does. She’s spent damn near a decade trying to find it and get it back. 

She cocks her head, and Leo is surprised the crown doesn’t make her tip all the way over. 

“And why don’t I just kill you and take the part myself?”

Bingo. “Do you know how to put it in?” Leo asks. “Because I’m pretty sure  _ I  _ have your blueprints.”

Her face is hardened. 

“Release him.” she says, hesitation in her voice. “Show me the part.”

They release him, and Leo reaches into his suit compartment and pulls out the golden coil Hera has needed for her super machine for so many years. At least she _ thinks _ it’s the golden coil. Her eyes glitter at the site. 

Leo grins. His plan is working. He’s got her under his spell, looking like she could drool at the site of the coil. It’s right then that Leo finally sees a break in Hera’s super villain demeanor, and starts to really see an unhinged old lady who grew up with weird powers and no friends. Leo flips the coil around in his hands and he can see her patience wearing thin. 

“Give me the coil.”

Leo grins wider. “Sure thing.”

Just as she lunges for Leo’s outstretched hand, he raises the phony coil into his air and throws it hard. The coil collides with the concrete and shatters, emitting enough smoke to encircle the mayor and Leo in a dense fog.   
“That was for my mom.”

In the haze, Leo reaches for the microphone cord on the left podium and pulls it hard, running around the mayor with it as best he can to tie her up. Leo can hear her hacking and grappling, and she manages to get a hand free from his trap. He fumbles for the microphone, but that’s tied against her now which proves more difficult than Leo intended. She claws up at his face. 

“Oh come on, the nails! That’s no fair.” Leo groans, batting her hand away, but she’s persistent. She claws back up, scraping his neck and pulling out his left earpiece with a triumphant cackle. 

“Finally” she wretches into his ear. Leo stiffens. For the first time he’s hearing her clearly. “Now, I can get you too.”

When Leo said he wanted his whole brain focused on Mayor Hera during this fight, this is  _ not  _ what he meant.Leo struggles against her power, trying to make his ear that’s still protected his focus but it’s really fucking difficult when she’s right up in his ear. 

“Don’t fight it, boy.” Hera says, voice barely above a whisper. Leo can’t even help himself. He stops fighting to get away from her. His jaw goes slack as she speaks to him. “You know what power I hold. Powers like yours. You’re an outcast just like me. Instead of fighting, why not join me?”

Leo wants to scream, but he has a deeper desire to obey.

“No.” he chokes out, but it’s a weak attempt. 

She laughs again. “No? Oh. Say yes.”

The word is on Leo’s tongue. It’s forcing its way out of his mouth beyond his control. He wants to say it. 

“Just a word of advice.”

Mayor Hera whips her head to the sound of the voice, and Leo is dropped from her trance. He stumbles back out of the smoke and thinks he might cry when he sees Jason standing there in full hero glory. 

“If people are joining you because they’re being held against their will, they aren’t really on your side.”

He steps forward fearlessly, picking up Leo’s earpiece off the ground and handing it to him. 

Leo slips in the earpiece and stands there awestruck. 

“I hope you don’t mind,” Jason says, grabbing Hera by Leo’s rope and lifting her into the air, “but I’ve realized that I’ve been ignoring my real fight. The one I really need to face.”

Leo’s never found Jason to be more heroic than he is in this moment. He doesn’t want Leo fighting his battles. Leo knows he’s finished with Hera. He has nothing left to fight her for, but Jason does. And he’s finally ready to do that. He deserves the closure that Leo got.

“I don’t mind at all.”

Hera struggles in Jason’s grip, holding the microphone tight against her side. 

“I would say it’s nice to see you again Hera, but it isn’t.” Jason says, eyeing her seriously. 

“Shouldn’t you have a little more respect for the woman who made you Metal Man?”

Jason’s hold on her tightens, but he doesn’t respond. Instead he reaches down to her hand, rips the microphone out of her grip and hands it to Leo. 

Mayor Hera laughs. “You think taking that from me will stop this?” she asks, looking around at the chaos that’s unfolded. People trampled, sirens blaring, a haze of fear and fighting. “My minions won’t stop until I say so. And last I checked this voice still works.”

Jason ignores her again. “Get it to Piper.” he instructs Leo. “If she gets it, she can probably reverse this.”

Leo nods, giving his friend one last look. “You got this?”

Jason raises up his metal gloved hand with a smile. “Oh yeah. I’ve got this.”

Leo gives him one last grin and bolts off into the crowd, turning his earpiece back on to a storm of chaos.    
“Jason’s on Hera. I’ve got the microphone and a shit ton of energy. Who needs me?”

*

Piper updates herself as being at the back of the crowd. She’s been displacing and talking to as many people as she can to get them out of Hera’s trance, but it’s a slow process. She does shared a shred of good news though, that’s she’s got Connor up and running again so he’ll be helping move people as well as continuing his stream of what’s happening. A couple of screeches come from Frank’s end against the super kids, but from what Leo can tell, he’s doing fine. Annabeth however, requests his help.    
“I’ve lost sight of Luke.” she says, sounding out of breath. “I think he ran into City Hall, and I need to go after him but the zombies are in my way, and supers are guarding the doors. I could really use you, Leo.”

Leo doesn’t need another word. He zigzags to the left side of the crowd, pushing through the zombies. They’re slow, but strong and persistent, and with the number of them, Leo has to mow them down to get through. He smacks them out of the way, parting the Red Sea of zombies until he spies a flash of Blonde hair. 

“Reaper!” he yells. She turns around, and plunges her fist into the air, signaling to Leo it is her. “Go after Luke, I’ll take them.”

She nods, and pushes through the crowd as Leo did, but definitely taking more liberties in beating them up. 

“Alright kids, I need you all to focus on me for a second. I’ll take good care of you.” 

Eyes flips to him, and Leo cracks his knuckles before going to town. His plan is a divide and conquer. He rips a sweatshirt off one of the zombies and uses it to tie up the first pair of ones that come near him. 

He gets a slap in the face and a kick in the back and groans. 

“Rude!’

The zombie people moan in response, and Leo continues in on his original method of using clothes to tie up zombie people and get them out of the way. If they get too close, Leo waves the fire in front of them, and that backs them off for a second. It’s weird. They’ll react to things, but still somehow be under Hera’s spell. The microphone probably did something to them. Leo tries talking into it too, but that does nothing but give them a bigger chance to mess with Leo with his defenses down. He’s got about thirty people tied together in groups, struggling against fabric, when he decides he can’t do this forever. 

“Hey Opia, where are you? I’ve got a bunch of people who need to be unzombified.”

“Little preoccupied.” she responds. “There’s a billion people out here. If you can bring them to me I can do it, otherwise you’re out of luck.”

“They’re getting meaner.” Frank says, finally joining the conversation. “I’ve been fighting them and the super kids, and I’ve noticed their getting harder to keep down.”

“We have to get the microphone to Opia!” Jason says. “It’s the only way.”

Leo nods. “I’ll get it to her.”

*

Leo sets his hands on fire and waves them out in front of him as he runs through the crowd. A Zombie, some fire, a high kick, more zombies, an elbow to the back of the head that actually really hurt, and more fire later, Leo is around the place he thinks Piper should be. The crowds are definitely lessened, but Leo can’t seem to find his friend. She also isn’t answering on the earpiece which worries him as well. He’s getting tired, and as the sky gets darker, the harder it is for Leo to see how close or how far they are from this battle coming to an end. 

He cranes his neck and catches a glimpse of Jason and Hera grappling against each other at the front of the steps. 

“Looking for someone?”

Leo turns on his heels and is face to face with Eyepatch. His second least favorite henchman.

“Definitely not you.” 

Eyepatch doesn’t waste time with niceties and neither does Leo. Eyepatch pulls a knife out of his belt and lunges at Leo. Leo dodges to the side and stumbles into a group of zombies, but he recovers quickly. He grabs Eyepatch’s collar and punches him in the face, but Eyepatch doesn’t even react. Leo does it again, but Eyepatch’s face stays the same. 

“You’re one of the super kids aren’t you?” Leo asks, pushing the guy back from him. “Which patient are you? E?”

Eyepatch growls, and bodyslams Leo. Leo tries his hardest to press back at the guy, but his lack of super strength is obvious against his opponent. 

“Is it worth it?” Leo asks, rubbing at his shoulder. Eyepatch eyes him, his knife pointed straight at Leo. “Is having the powers worth being evil?”

Eyepatch seems to hesitate, but he seems to remind himself that he should be killing Leo not talking to him, and that gets him back. He approaches Leo with a murderous look in his eye, and before Leo can dodge, Eyepatch grazes Leo with the knife, splitting his chin open. 

Leo’s brows pull down in anger. He wipes off his chin and lights his arms on fire and stalking towards Eyepatch. He stumbles backwards and shoves zombie people in the way. Leo manages around them. Eyepatch chucks a trash can, but Leo jumps over that too. 

Finally they hit the building line, and Leo’s got Eyepatch against the wall of the bank. Leo thrusts his hands an inch away from Eyepatch’s face, but as soon as he gets a good look at the guy, he pauses. 

He looks so scared. Leo knows he could choose to see this guy as someone who was involved with his mom’s death, or an evil henchman, but Leo can hear his mom’s voice in his head. 

_ He might not have had a choice, Mijo. He might have been like your friend Jason.  _

Leo can’t get over the tug in his heart, so he pulls back his fire just a little. 

“Hey.” Leo says, following his heart for once. It could backfire, and Leo could get another knife cut, but he’s testing his luck to reach out to this guy. “Did you choose to work for Hera?”

Eyepatch looks at him curiously, wondering if this is some kind of trick. Leo doesn’t waver in his question, pushing Eyepatch to think he’s being genuine. 

“Not really.” he admits. “I got picked off the street to be a patient. She gave me food and a place to live, so I’ve just been following orders.”

Leo’s body warms. “How would you feel about not having to follow her orders anymore?”

Eyepatch raises his eyebrows. 

“Join us instead.” Leo says firmly. “I promise we’re the good guys.”

Eyepatch seems to hesitate. “What about  _ her _ ?’

“If my friend Metal Man is doing his job right, you won’t have to worry about her ever again.”

“And you don’t care about what I’ve done?”

Leo shakes his head. “What matters at this moment is what you choose to do now. It’s us or her.”   
Leo brings his flames all the way down and offers Eyepatch a hand. A second later, Leo’s entire body floods with heat as Eyepatch puts his hand into Leo’s. 

“I’m Leo, by the way.”

Eyepatch smiles. “Ethan.” he says. “Now tell me how I can help.”

Leo pulls out an earpiece and gives it to Ethan. 

“Put it in.”

Ethan does and immediately reacts to the sounds in his ears. 

“Eyepatch is on our side now. His name is Ethan and he wants to help. Who needs him?”

“Me!” Piper calls. There’s too many over here. I’m also still waiting on that microphone.”

Leo nods. “Opia is back in that corner. We’ll head to her together.” Leo tells Ethan. Ethan nods. He pulls off his mayor security coat and tosses it on the ground. 

“Actually grab that.” Leo tells him. “I’ve found that coats help wrangle zombies.”

He picks it back up and the two boys jog together towards where Piper is supposed to be. Leo feels freaking good. Hera is all tied up, the tired is fading, he’s got Ethan on their side, and Leo is more determined than ever to help the citizens. Leo’s got his heart set on every person in the city. All he has to do is get the microphone to Piper and they can win this. Nothing can bring him down now. At least until Frank yells into the earpiece, voice shaking with worry. 

“Leo, I need you over with me right now. The super kids took Hazel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle has begun! There will be at least one more chapter focused completely on the battle, but maybe more! We shall see! I hope you all enjoy and have a great time relishing in this battle we've been leading up to the whole story!  
> As always thanks for reading and leaving kudos and comments!   
> New chapter will be up next week :)


	24. Election Day Part 3

Leo’s heart catches in his throat, and he stops dead in his tracks. Ethan realizes and stops too, knocking out a zombie, before circling back to stand with Leo. 

“Do you need to get her? If you’re still set on bringing the microphone, I could go help Hazel whoever-”

“No.” Leo says, cutting him off. He knows it might not be the smartest move in the grand scheme of things, but Leo has to trust Ethan won’t screw him over. Leo pulls Ethan’s hand towards him and sets the golden microphone in his grasp. “I’ve got it. I need you to get this microphone to Opia. Can I trust you to get this to her safely?”

Ethan tightens his grip on the microphone, and gives Leo a firm nod. 

“Good.” Leo says, setting a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “Now, go.”

Ethan does as he’s told, and disappears into the crowd. Despite the calm, serious facade Leo put up for Ethan, he’s panicking. 

He presses his earpiece deeper into his ear. “Where Frank? Where are you?”

“Out in the city.” Frank says, breathless. “I tried to keep them in the city hall area but there were too many, and now I’m trying to find the two who have Hazel but it’s hard because I have all the zombies and they have ice powers and some other one I don’t even really understand and Leo I really need to get her-”

“Frank, you’re rambling. Stay calm, I’m coming.” Leo says, even though he feels the same amount of nerves as Frank does. Leo could fight evil supervillains any day without fear, but the thought of losing another person whose become so important to him is the scariest thing he could imagine. “Fly up so I can see where you are.”

Leo hears a screech and lifts his gaze to the sky. About a block away, Leo sees the outline of his friend raise above the buildings. Leo gets over the miniature shock of seeing Frank in his full creature form, all wings and green and scales all over his face, and runs. Runs like he’s never run before. His speed and the lack of crowds beyond the building line make it easier for Leo to make it to Frank. By the time he reaches him, Frank is mostly human again. The only thing that’s different is that the scales that have been steadily growing on Frank’s back and neck have now spread up to the edges of his face. 

“Come on, they went this way.” Frank drags Leo by the arm, and the two boys run in pursuit of saving Hazel. After turning the corner, Leo can see the two who have Hazel in their grasp. They’re running towards...somewhere. Leo can’t really tell. That is, until they turn onto a familiar street. A street that leads towards a house Leo is well acquainted with. 

“They’re taking her to Hera’s house.” Leo tells Frank. Frank doesn’t respond, but he runs faster, taking a running lead in front of Leo. Both boys watch the super kids disappear into the house, but they don’t stop running. They also don’t stop in the face of a door or a window, as they both choose to go straight through. It was cool in the second, but Leo winces as he gets up from the pile of glass he just landed in as a result of kicking in through the window. He wipes himself off quickly, and he and Frank follow the loud humming sound they hear coming from the basement. Frank breaks in the locked door and the two hastily run down the stairs. Leo lights his arms up and Frank unsheathes the claws Leo made them, putting them out in front of them as they reach the downstairs. As expected, they are immediately attacked. Leo barely makes it off the stairs before his entire body runs cold. Leo is shocked at first, as he hasn’t felt cold in months. He looks in front of him to see his arms frosted up with ice. 

Well this is definitely a new foe. Luckily, Leo remember pretty quickly he’s got fire powers, and melts through the ice casing, bringing feeling back to his arms. The girl gears up to shoot ice again, but Leo’s not falling for that again. He turns around and spreads his arms, concentrating on the backside of his body, which he hasn’t really done before. Like his ass has always been fire, but never on fire with specific intent. Thankfully the ass, and the back, and the backsides of his arms light up to melt the ice on impact. 

“Well how do you like them icicles?” Leo chuckles to Frank. 

Frank ignores him and pushes in front of Leo to go for the other girl, the one who has Hazel in her grasp still. The one who is pushing Hazel towards some giant machine that looks oddly familiar to Leo. 

Leo squares off again with ice girl. In some world this is kind of a twisted perfect match, but Leo knows he can outlast the ice girl anyways. The fire will beat the ice, always. It’s like the most predictable rock paper scissors match ever. All Leo has to do is get her out of the running, somehow. He thinks he could just stick her in the freezer he spies in the corner, but that doesn’t seem like it would be the most effective given the circumstances. She’s a lot harsher than the zombies, that’s for sure. She’s relentless in the way Ethan and Luke were when they fought. It’s that one track mind of evil Hera’s implanted in all of them. After icicles to the ribcage and a few more frozen hand situations, Leo tries his hand at reasoning with her the way he did with Ethan. 

“Hey,” he starts in the same soft voice, “did Hera force you to-”

He’s cut off by his own groan of pain as Jackie Frost over here jumps into the air and kicks Leo straight in the fucking mouth. He’s sent backwards stumbling, hand up to his mouth. 

“Cheap shot.”

Leo sees Frank beyond, fumbling at Hazel who is now locked up in what Leo is really sure is the super machine which freaks him out all over again. He shoves it down though. He and Frank are both emotionally involved, but Leo can’t afford to let his guard down and let something happen to her. Instead, Leo tries to help both his friends by taking on two at once. Leo runs at ice girl, grabbing her by the collar, and shoving her backwards, so both her and him fall into the second henchman. It was a pretty mediocre method, but it got both of them up and angrier at Leo than they were before. 

“You know, in my dreams it was always girls fighting over me, not girls  _ fighting  _ me.”

The women are unimpressed. Leo never really in his heart wants to hurt any of the super kids, but these girls are pretty high up on his shit list for taking Hazel, so he gets gung ho about it pretty quickly. And it’s messy fighting. Leo’s grabbing ponytails, clocking the girls in the head, burning their hands anytime they try and get near him. Frank’s not making any progress on Hazel and Leo can see him getting more frantic and desperate. 

As desperate as Frank is acting, and sounding, nothing is more heartbreaking than the sound that rings through Leo and Frank’s ear pieces in the middle of this fight. The sound of Annabeth letting out a wail, followed by panicked fear stricken words. 

“Luke, STOP.” she chokes out. “Stop it, put him down.”

“You want me to let go?”

“NO.” Annabeth screams.

Leo’s brows pull down. He grabs ice girl by the neck and holds her against the wall, listening intently to his friend on the other end. 

“Listen, this has nothing to do with Percy. You’re mad at me, don’t take it out on him!”

“Why shouldn’t I be mad, Anna?” Luke asks bitterly. “ _ I  _ did what we said. I got the powers by any means necessary, and not only did it make you hate me, but YOU still got to end up as the hero! You became the hero we always wanted to be, and in the process you replaced me with not only those four assholes, but THIS-” his voice breaks off. “This guy took your heart. This guy who is obviously more important to you than I ever was.”

Leo’s mind is running all over the place, luckily he has experience with thinking about many things at once. Even so, Luke is really scaring him. He’s really fucking worried about Annabeth, and how the whole situation sounds so dangerous for her and Percy and even though he’s got a lot to deal with right in front of him, he feels the deep desire to run to Annabeth and save them.

“That’s not true, Luke.” 

“YES. IT IS.”

Annabeth’s voice becomes painstakingly calm over the earpiece, as if she just realized her own emotions were escalating the situation way too much. 

“Luke, it doesn’t have to be like this. I never wanted it to be like this. Maybe we could-”

“No. It’s too late.”

Shit shit shit. Leo can’t take it anymore. He throws icy aside and looks to Frank. 

“I have to go Reaper. I can’t just let them-”

“No.” Frank says, firmly, stepping back from Hazel. “I’m going.”

Wait, what?

“What?”

“I’m going.” Frank says again. “You can’t get there as fast as I can. Annabeth needs me. You stay here.”

“But what about Hazel?” Leo can’t believe Frank would ever choose to not only leave his girlfriend here, but also leave her here alone with Leo, given Leo’s historically romantic feelings for her. 

Frank looks at him, his eyes serious and calm. “You save her for me. I trust you.”

Without any more discussion on the matter, Frank shoots up through the ceiling and flies away, as fast as he can to save Annabeth and whatever fate Luke is attempting to subject poor Percy Jackson to. After Frank leaves, the situation intensifies. Leo kind of goes beast mode and fires the girls into a corner, knocking them each out pretty hard with some good old fashioned elbows to head, and keeping them down by setting some fancy Hera chairs on them. They’re sedated enough for Leo to go running back to Hazel, and that’s when the emotions return. 

His throat chokes up a little bit as he looks at Hazel strapped into this machine, barely cognizant, with that dazed faraway look on her face. Leo hurriedly tugs at the metal restraints but it does no use. So instead, he wills fire into his finger and gently starts to burn away the metal.

“It’s fine, it’s gonna be fine.” he mumbles. He can see the metal singeing her skin as it melts, and her body reacts. Leo winces and tries to pull it back as fast as he can, but Hazel is still getting burned. Besides the red tinted rings around her wrists, Leo melts Hazel out of the trap relatively unscathed. He undoes the final clip holding her in, and reaches his arms around her waist to pull her out. 

Obviously heroically pulling Hazel out of the super scary super machine would’ve been too much good luck, as the second he gets her out of there, his good old friend Ms. Freeze has returned to turn him around by the shoulder and sock him again in the face. Leo feels his lip fattening up even more than it already is and he groans. Why can’t people he knocks down just STAY DOWN? 

Leo grabs at her shoulders and tugs her around, slamming her against the machine. That disorients her, so he does it again. He stumbles forward a little on this time, and the girl backs up into the spot Hazel was in, not one minute ago. Metal restraints appear out of the machine, replacing the ones Leo had just painstakingly burned away, and wrapping around her wrists. 

Leo’s actually quite pleased with how this all shook out, as he knows she can’t get out of those on his own. He’s all ready to turn his thoughts fully back to Hazel, but those are dashed as he hears a loud beeping sound. Leo’s head whips over to Hazel who had slumped over on a button on the side of the machine that was beginning to him to life. 

“Oh shit.”

A glass encasement starts lowering down over ice girl, and her eyes widen. Leo runs towards it, but he’s too slow. He bangs on the glass, trying to get it to break, but then the whole case fills with a blinding light and Leo stumbles back, knocking into a table. 

The light glows and the machine roars loudly for about a minute, and then all at once it fades back to normal. The top lifts up and Leo rushes to the girl. The restraints open on their own, and Leo quickly pulls her out of the machine, wondering what the hell it just did to her. Would she have double powers now? Would she even open her eyes? Leo shakes her awake, but she doesn’t move. He bites down on his lip and slaps her in the face and that wakes her up. 

She stares at Leo for a second, before reaching up and wrapping her hand around his neck. 

It hurts, obviously, as she’s constricting his airflow, but it’s nowhere near as forceful as it was earlier in the fight. 

“Hey, do something for me.” Leo manages, voice raspy and strangled. “Freeze me.”

Ice girl gives Leo a tired by venomous smile. “With pleasure.”

She backs off, standing up with only a little bit of wobbling. She closes her eyes and sticks her hands out, hitting Leo with a whole lot of...

Nothing. 

Her eyes shoot open and she repositions her hands to shoot once again, but the same thing happens. Nothing comes out. Instead of double powers, the machine seemed to cancel them out and turn the girl back to normal.

She looks at her hands fervently, flipping them over and checking them out, but nothing changes the fact she’s not super anymore. 

“Now, I’ve got more important things to worry about right now.” Leo tells her firmly. “So either let’s get this over with and I’ll tie you up, or you get out of here now.”

She takes the second option, hightailing it past Leo and up the stairs. 

Finally finally finally, Leo gets to give his undivided attention to Hazel, still leaning over the machine. Leo wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her back up. He slides his hands up to cup her cheeks, forcing her zombified eyes to look into his own. 

“Gotta reverse this, okay? Gotta bring Hazel back.”

Leo presses his earpiece in. “Piper, you there?”

Leo hears a mumbled, “Listen to me, she doesn’t control you.” from Piper, before she acknowledges Leo. 

“Yep, I’m here.”

“I’ve got Hazel.” he says, “I'm gonna put my earpiece in her ear, can you talk to her?”

“Of course. Do it.”

Leo pulls it out and slips it into Hazel’s ear. He slips his hand up to cup it closer to her, before pulling her into his chest. He breathes deeply for a second, holding her tight, as Piper begins to speak into her ear. After a minute, Leo starts to worry that it isn’t working, that Hazel will be permanently zombified, so he pulls back from her, holding her face in his hands again. And thank god for everything on this stupid earth because when he looks down at her, it’s Hazel. Not any stupid zombie with glazed over eyes and no thoughts, but really truly Hazel. She stares up at Leo with wide eyes. 

“W-what happened? Where are we?”

Leo’s so relieved he could cry. “Hera’s basement,” he tells her, putting on his signature low voice. “Long story, but none of it matters. You’re safe now.”

Leo rests his head against hers and his body warms with relief and comfort. Hazel is the one to pull back this time, studying Leo again. 

“You saved my life.” she says, softly. 

Leo chuckles. “A little bit, yeah.”

Leo stares back at Hazel, and his cheeks start to flush under her gaze. Heat rushes to his cheeks, and he’s stuck wondering why she’s just staring at him like that, arms around his waist, in such close proximity. 

Hazel’s eyes flick down for a split second, and Leo doesn’t even register what’s happening until Hazel tentatively starts leaning her head closer to him. 

A sick feeling coils up in Leo’s belly, declaring war on the tugging in his heart that’s been yearning for this moment since the day he met Hazel, and with no hesitation, the sick feeling wins. Because Leo knows for fucking sure he loves Frank way more than throwing the best friendship he’s ever had away for some girl. No matter how cute she is. 

“Uh,” Leo says, pulling his head back from her. “Remind me of the name of that guy you’re seeing.”

Hazel steps back, embarrassed and guilty, as if she just set her head back on straight. 

She clears her throat, avoiding Leo’s gaze. “Frank. His name is Frank.”

“What are your favorite things about him?

Hazel glances back up at him. “He’s smart.” she begins, “like crazy smart. And he’s probably the nicest guy I’ve ever known so he like goes along with all my crazy ideas. I like it when he’s sarcastic, and when he wears turtlenecks because they make him look really cute.”

Leo’s heart warms at the way Hazel gets a soft smile on her face when she’s talking about Frank. It doesn’t hurt to hear her do that the way it used to, and Leo couldn’t be more glad about that. 

“Well, I think,” Leo says, “that you’re really really lucky to find a guy like your Frank, and I bet both of you are really good for each other. In my humble opinion, If you have the privilege of dating someone as fucking awesome as him, I don’t think you should throw it all away for some stupid super guy.”

Hazel sighs. “You’re completely right. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it. I know I’m hot.”

Hazel rolls her eyes and slaps him in the chest, to which Leo laughs. 

She pushes her hair back and pulls the earpiece out, handing it to Leo. 

“Thanks.”

Leo puts it back in, and he’s met with the familiar hum of battle from a couple different points. 

“I think we have a fight to get back to.” Leo says, straightening his mask. 

Hazel nods. She glances around and grabs a pair of fancy earmuffs off of the stack of winter clothing in Hera’s basement, pressing her curls down to put them over her ears. 

Leo raises his eyebrow.    
“What? If I got brainwashed the first time, I’m really not down to do it again.”

She’s got a point. 

Leo grabs her hand and the two get out of Hera’s house as fast as they can. With Hazel’s normal speed competing with Leo’s super speed, they are travelling slower than he would like, but he can’t do much about it, so he’s stays optimistic. Once they reach then edge of the building line, Leo’s heart sinks when he sees that the majority of the giant crowd is still brainwashed, and Leo can  _ hear  _ Hera’s voice shouting commands. It’s not loud through a microphone, but her vocal chords are still working and Leo can’t wrap his head around why.

“Opia!” Leo speaks into the earpiece. “What’s going on? Did Eyepatch get the microphone to you?”

“Of course he did,” she responds, “but if you remember correctly it was ripped out of its wiring! It doesn’t do shit for us.”

“Well, I made you your own microphone for a reason!” Leo insists. “You don’t need her microphone anyways. You’re ten times stronger than she’ll ever be, and you have a wireless mic.”   
“Okay, but what am I supposed to do?”

“All of them, Piper.” Jason’s voice comes in. “Stop doing one at a time, get up there and do all of them.”

“There’s too many!”

“No there’s not. You can do this.”

“But what about Hera, she’s still-”

“Hey.” Jason cuts her off. “You can do this.”

Piper’s quiet for a second. “Okay. I’ll try.”

Leo stands with Hazel at the building line and waits for something to start to happen. He waits to hear Piper’s voice, but he sees her before he hears her. 

And God is a Woman and her name is Piper McLean because when Leo spots Piper ascending into the sky from the middle of the crowd, Leo fully commits to his earlier plan of worshipping Piper for eternity. She hovers about twenty feet above the crowd, the jewel on her forehead sending a dark magenta hue through the night sky. And then she speaks. 

“Everyone, everyone, don’t listen to Hera.” her voice echoes over the crowd, but it shakes. Leo knows she’s not confident in her words, but she needs to be if she’s going to override her. “She is trying to control you for her own benefit. Don’t let yourselves be pawns to her. Don’t listen.”

A few heads turn to Piper, but it’s not enough. 

Leo can hear vague sounds of Hera calling attention back, but they become muffled again and Piper raises her voice louder. 

“All of you here, you are your own people. No one should be making decisions for you. I want you to think and feel what you believe, not what Mayor Hera is feeding to you to turn you against us.”

Leo can hear the confidence in her voice growing, and it’s affecting the entire city. Piper’s confidence and belief in the people of this city starts to seep into the crowd, the ground, the sky, and Leo feels her words in his bones. 

“Stop letting her think she owns you. Get out of her trance.”

The fighting is ceasing, people are really starting to melt out of the trance, and Leo is putting all his faith in Piper and her glorious voice until

“DON’T LISTEN.” Hera’s voice booms over the crowd. “You want to obey, you will obey, you-”

Leo climbs up on the nearest street light to see Jason getting thrown away from Hera by a guy in all black, and Mayor Hera screaming at the top of her lungs, only to be grabbed by the throat by said man in black. As her voice croaks down to nothing, Piper sticks her arms straight out and pink light rolls off her in waves as she speaks to the city in the most powerful voice Leo had ever heard. 

“Come out of the trance. Think for yourself. Be you.”

*

Piper’s words hit Leo hard, and everything is her words. Her voice clouding all of his senses, but then it fades. Leo blinks his eyes open, and the biggest smile rips onto his face as he sees a crowd of people. Not zombies, real actual beautiful thoughtful non-brainwashed people. She did it. Piper did it. 

Piper floats down slowly and the crowd parts. The second she lands, the entire city seems to break into applause, as they should. Leo glances at Hazel, and she nods, allowing him to run off towards Piper. Leo wants to go in for the hug, but as soon as he reaches her, she grabs his hand and keeps running, eyes locked on Jason. Annabeth and Frank flank in at the same time they do, and the four of them run up to Jason.   
When they make it up to him, Leo is in shock to see Jason crouched on the ground beside Hera, who has her hands at her throat. 

“What happened?”

“Luke.” Jason says. “He came out of nowhere. He punched me and I thought I was toast, but then he went after her. Did some real damage to her neck and I don’t think she’ll be able to talk again. Then he disappeared.”

“But why would he do that?”

Jason shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Annabeth looks wistfully off into the distance. “Maybe he finally heard me.” she says, gently. “Maybe he remembered he wasn’t all bad.”

Jason nods. “Whatever the reason, he helped us win.”

The group is interrupted by the conversation within their own little world, by a familiar pair of voices booming over a microphone. 

“That was crazy.” 

Leo turns his head and his face lights up at the site of Connor and Nico coming up the stairs wielding some news anchor microphones. “We literally all almost became slaves to the poster child for corruption.”

Leo laughs at Nico’s comments, and the city does as well. 

“Now would you like to meet the people who saved your lives?”

The crowd cheers, and Leo feels like he’s walking on air. 

Connor and Nico motion for them to come forward. Jason waves over Ethan to hold onto Hera while the group all gets up and heads forward to the sounds of thunderous applause. 

Connor smiles, and tugs Jason up to the front. 

“SoCal, meet Metal Man, strongman and gentle hero extraordinaire.”

Jason smiles, and waves out to the crowd. This is exactly where Jason belongs, being revered as the hero he always knew he was. 

“Opia,” Nico continues, “the voice that saved all of you from zombiehood who lays her heart on the line every time she saves someone.”

The applause is crazy loud for Piper, acting as a testament to how strong and adored Piper is and should be by the citizens. 

“Reaper,” Connor says next, stepping over to Annabeth and pushing her forward. “She’s the tough as nails super fighter who did everything under the sun to make sure you were all safe.”

At the sound of the applause, Annabeth gets this look on her face. This mixture of confusion, not knowing what to do with herself, and pride. As if she’s finally getting seen as the hero she always wanted to be. 

“Creature.” Nico announces, patting Frank on the shoulder. “The jack of all trades. He single handedly, or single wingedly depending on how you look at it, fought against Hera’s army, and saved over half of the people in the square from getting crushed in the wake of the super attacks.caught in the crossfire of the attacks.”

Leo stares in awe at his best friend. He didn’t even realize Frank had done that, but when he sees Frank grin out over the crowd beside him, he can tell that it happened, and the city is eternally grateful. 

“And finally.” Connor steps in between Leo and Frank to put his arm around Leo. “The hero who told Hera to fuck off with a smile, and brought his firepower to help in every corner of this city: 

THE BRONZE DRAGON.”

The applause rolls over Leo in warm waves, but nothing heats his heart up more than the fact he has been gifted his own superhero name. 

They won the battle. They saved everyone. And he has his own freakin’ superhero name. 

This may very well be the best day ever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy mama. That was a big one.   
> We're ending on the highest of highs for this chapter because after all of that battle crazy stuff I think the kiddos deserve this! But thankfully, the story is not over just yet.   
> I have one more chapter in store for all of you to wrap this up.   
> I will save my emo cringey Leo-esque speech about this fic until the last chapter but guys I am so crazy happy with how this story has evolved and grown and challenged me, so I hope you enjoy it too.   
> Thanks for comments and kudos, they really truly make my day.   
> Stay tuned for next week, our final chapter.   
> :)


	25. Behind the mask

_“That’s correct SoCal, our city became a comic book-esque battleground tonight. The forces of good and evil came to a head at the election, and whilst we were for awhile, on the cusp of a bitter demise, we were saved by a group of heroes that once again prove that good always conquers evil. in front of city hall. Buses are running all night to bring people here, banners are waving, food is being donated by the restaurants along the strip, and it feels like a new life has been given to our citizens. In a way, with the new leadership put in place, it has. All of this that we have been given is all thanks to our selfless protectors…_

_THE FABULOUS FIVE._

_I’m kidding, of course. That name is absolute shit. Name is pending, but that doesn’t matter._

_What really matters is that we owe our livelihood to Metal Man, Opia, Reaper, Creature, and the Bronze Dragon. We also apparently owe our livelihood to a number of others who have been cited in front of the whole city by the group, including uh, Hazel Levesque, Nico Di Angelo, Connor Stoll- hey that’s me!, and a few others who were stated to not want their name out, but they were integral. Also remember all those who were affected and employed by Hera during her reign, please report to city hall as a machine brought over by the supers may be able to help your situation, also-”_

“Why are you listening to that right now?” Piper asks, tugging the headphone out of Leo’s ear. “If you forgot, we just lived it. I mean it’s literally-” she pauses again to motion about twenty feet behind them, “right there.”

Leo chuckles a little, glancing back at the crowd they just managed to slip out of. “What can I say? I’m very narcissistic when it comes to hearing people talk about all the amazing stuff me and my friends did.”

Leo keeps his gaze on the city awhile longer, remembering back to when they first got up there. They were up there for awhile celebrating, doing interviews, but it got to the point where all of them knew it was time to make good on the promise they made to each other. Not the one about saving the city. The one that came after that. 

Piper gives him a look. “Do you want to go back there? Cause you can keep basking in the glory for another few hours. I’m sure there’s people wanting you to kiss babies and take the key to the city.”

“Are you kidding?” Leo asks, tossing an arm around Piper’s shoulder. “I have plans with my best friends.”

*

And once they reach Piper’s apartment, they all set to work making good on those plans. Comfy clothes, crammed onto Piper’s couch, eating takeout, and finishing that fucking netflix show they’ve all been half watching the past few months. Piper begins it all by tossing out sweaters and sweatpants to everyone who wants them, Leo especially. 

He loves his new suit he really does, but he has to remind himself to use something to prevent sweat because it is rubbing him in not the greatest places. Leo doesn’t bother skipping off into Piper’s room, he just strips off in her living room and gets into her Caltech hoodie that makes him feel soft and warm. Frank does the same, and when he pulls his suit down, Leo’s eyes widen. 

“Frank! Dude! Look at your back!” 

Frank glances over his shoulder, his face holding a small smile. “I know.”

“What happened? They’re all gone? You’re like scale-free!”

Frank pulls Piper’s hoodie over his head that hits him like a crop top and snorts. 

“I’m not really sure. I noticed they were gone once we were all up on stage with Connor and stuff.”

He glances down at the floor with that same soft smile. “I don’t know, I think- I think I realized how much I _really_ like saving people.” he says, looking back up at Leo. “I spent every second since I got my powers, fighting them, but when I embraced them, the scales went away.”

“That’s awesome.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“So, just making sure you _don’t_ want us to drop you off at city hall at the power-reverser thing?”

Frank laughs, and muscles Leo into a hug. “I’m all good.”

“Just got takeout ordered! Everyone venmo me fifteen bucks.” Jason calls out, before letting out a bellowing laugh. “I’M KIDDING! It’s my treat!”

Leo grins at how happy Jason sounds. He grins again when Piper walks in and bursts out laughing at the site of Frank wearing her hoodie, and he thinks that his face might get permanently stuck like this if everything keeps making him so damn happy. While Frank and Leo settle themselves on the couch to find the netflix show, Leo receives the bits and pieces of the fights that he missed out on. What everyone else was going through when Leo was having his own personal battles.

Leo tells them all about finding the super machine and taking down two supers at once. He learned how Ethan and Connor had carried Nico out of a trap of zombies and had Piper speak through a gutter on the other side of the building to get him unbrainwashed. He learned that Luke had dangled Percy Jackson out of a City Hall window and Frank had fearlessly swooped in to save his life. They talked about how Annabeth stopped in her undying pursuit of Luke to save a group of younger kids who were in danger of getting trampled in the crossfire. And Leo got to hear every detail about Jason’s face off with Hera. How he told her everything he had wanted to tell her since he found out about his powers. 

“And I paraphrased a guy who understood me a lot sooner than I understood me,” Jason says, looking over to Leo with a smile. “I told her my powers were not what made me a hero.”

Leo give his friend a determined nod. “And you were right.”

By that point, everyone is settled on the couch, and just as Leo is about to press onto their netflix show, Annabeth’s phone rings on the table in front of them. 

“Anna, phone.” Frank says, passing it over to her. 

“It’s Percy.” she says, letting her arm loll out, “I can just tell him to-”

Before she can finish, Leo reached over and accepts the call, putting it on speakerphone.

“Percy! What’s up man?”

“Leo? I thought I was calling my girlfriend.”

“Didn’t you know? We’re a package deal now. I’m girlfriend number two.”

Percy cackles. “Glad I’m in the loop about my relationship status.” he says, “Anyways I’m calling to invite Anna and you and whoever else comes in this fun new package to my house!”

“Why?” Annabeth calls from where she is in the dining room. 

“What do you mean, why? Didn’t you hear? We all just got our asses saved by super people! We’re in college and it’s the law that we have to throw a celebratory “We didn’t die tonight” party.”

Annabeth glances around at her friends, biting her lip. “I don’t know Perce, today might not be the best day.”

“Are you too busy for me?”

“Little bit.”

“Fine fine. I know girlfriend number one is a very popular and smart woman, so I’m fine missing out on her tonight. But if you change your mind, you know where I live.”

“Okay, Perce.”

“Bye!!!”

“Bye.”

As soon as he hangs up, Piper gives her a dropped jaw look. “Why did you say no the party?”

“I don’t know! I thought we were all going to watch netflix here and cry and process the emotional and physical experience we just had together!”

“But a party sounds funnnnnnnnn.”

“Seriously?” Annabeth asks with a laugh. “What about our whole plan?”  
She glances around the room, and Jason offers a shrug in response. “I mean it’s a _really_ good plan, and I want us to do it, honest. But maybe that’s a tomorrow plan, and tonight is a go have fun and pretend we didn’t just save the world kind of night.”

Leo can’t argue with that logic. As much as he absolutely loves being super, they all have to adjust back to being normal kids at some point too. And, he can’t lie, he wants to see Nico and Hazel, make sure them and everyone else is doing alright since the last time he saw them. 

“I’ll go party, but only if everyone else wants to go party too.”

“I’m fully down.” Leo tosses in. 

“Me too!” replies Frank, “But only if we get to bring the takeout with us.”

Annabeth smiles. “Okay then. Let’s do it.”

*

After the takeout arrives, the group decides to stay in Piper’s sweats and all grab a seat in Frank’s car to head over. It’s strange, because it almost feels like the whole super thing never happened. It feels like Leo is just a normal kid headed to a party, not unlike his very first night at college. When they arrive, the party is bumping, as expected; the whole city is bumping at this point, with no intention of stopping. A part of Leo feels like he should just pass out and sleep for 14 hours after the day he had, but for some reason the rest of his brain is running on this huge ass adrenaline high. He wants to party with his friends, and dance around, and he’s going to instill the Bronze Dragon level confidence when he enters this party. 

The door is already open, and Leo steps through, hands in the air, with a loud whoop of excitement. The group in the living room cheers in reply, and Leo is excited and surprised to see a couple of people sporting superhero-esque masks and anti-Hera t-shirts. Leo glances into the kitchen, and grins to see Hazel handing out extras of the shirts they all had on this morning. Leo _is_ excited to see her, but in no way is he as excited as Frank, who busts past him and runs into the kitchen, hoisting Hazel up into the air and spinning her around. Leo’s heart warms in a new way as he watches Hazel beam up at Frank and tug him into her for a long kiss. In a similar fashion, Leo watches Annabeth get swept up by Percy and pulled into the party. 

Leo grabs a shot that someone hands him and heads into the party. He almost dives himself straight into a group of strangers, but he’s grabbed by Piper and Jason, and brought into a dance with them. He downs the shot, and tosses the glass aside, allowing Piper to twirl him and Jason under her arms. Jason gives a stupid running man dance, and Leo does his best pop and locking, which isn’t good at all. But that doesn’t really matter, does it? Leo runs into Will, and Connor, but he still hasn’t found any sign of Nico. He stands up on his tiptoes and glances over the crowd of people celebrating, but all the good that does him is cause him to lose Jason and Piper in the swarms of people. He calls out for them, but it's no good, as Leo is surrounded by a hundred strangers. 

For a split second, Leo feels nerves bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. He’s getting that feeling he used to get when he realizes he’s all on his own at parties. When he’s left on the outside yet again, and no matter how hard he tries to push in, he-

Leo is broken out of his trance by a hand on his shoulder. He whips around to a “Hey.”

His shoulders tense. “Hey.”

Nico gives him a funny look. “You okay?”

Leo nods. “Uh yeah, sorry. I just got into a weird mood for a second.”

“I mean that’s understandable. You went through a heck of a night.” Nico says, squeezing Leo’s shoulder a bit. “Thanks for saving us all, by the way.”

Heat returns to Leo’s skin and he chuckles. 

“You’re welcome.” Leo says, tipping an imaginary hat. “Thanks for all your help too.”

Nico smirks. “I mean I was zombified for 75% of the fight, but I’m glad that my help in displacement for that 25% didn’t go unnoticed by the big heroes.”

Leo rolls his eyes.   
“I’m surprised you guys showed up.” Nico comments. “I thought you would do like a five hour group hug at Piper’s or something.”

Leo laughs. “Oh I’m sure that’s coming later, but we decided to get out and party tonight, you know- see everyone.”

“I’m glad.” Nico says, a real full smile on his face. “It’s all friends here tonight. Everyone is here celebrating you- even if they don’t know it.”

Leo smiles. “Hey, thanks.”

Nico nods. He turns to move on, but stops himself and turns back to Leo. 

“Hey, your mom is really proud of you.” he tells Leo. “My powers might not be good for a lot of things, but I know that much.”

Leo sighs and pulls the smaller boy into a hug, tapping out an I love you on his back that’s sort of for Nico, but more for his mom. “Thanks. I know she is.”

“Let’s hang out sometime and visit with her again.” Nico says, patting Leo’s back gently. “We’ll talk with her and then we can play video games or something, okay?”

“I’d like that.”

Nico passes him by, and Leo heads to the couch in the corner, one he had become very familiar with at the last party. 

And as Leo looks out over the crowd, he feels… different than before. Oddly reflective. All over this party, Leo sees people. People who are objectively more in the group, and having more fun than he is. In the corner of the kitchen, sitting with drinks at the tiny table are Percy and Annabeth, surrounded by a whole group of people. Frank and Hazel are on the dancefloor, showing Leo that his best friend and the girl Leo used to like are incredibly happy that they are together. Even Jason and Piper who spent all semester apart, trying to keep their feelings underwraps, are sharing possibly their first kiss right in front of the door. Leo should be feeling that alone feeling. The one where he realizes everyone is in a group, and he’s on the outskirts, but this time- it’s not there. 

Because when Leo really thinks about it, he’s never truly been alone. Not with his mom when she was alive, and even after her death being his support system. Not with Nyssa taking care of him and being there for him when she didn’t have to. Not with his best friends Frank, Piper, Annabeth, and Jason standing beside him. Not when people like Hazel, Connor, and Nico believe in him. Not when kids like Harley look up to him. Not when pretty girls talk to him at rallies, or when there is an entire city out there who thanked him for saving them. 

Leo’s spent a lot of his life, behind the mask, and without it, thinking he was alone. Finally, he’s come to the realization that it’s no longer true. Even if the whole world hasn’t realized it yet, people are finally starting to see Leo for the amazing wonderful guy he’s always seen himself as. A simple fixer who likes cute girls, wants to do the right thing, and also happens to be a real life superhero. And yes, a lot of his acceptance from the world is coming from behind the mask, and he’s still the eternally single guy he’s always been, but he’s got to give the people time to see beyond the whole Bronze Dragon thing, to see Leo. 

The couch dips next to him, and Leo glances over to see Annabeth, thrusting a mug into his grip. 

“I promised you, that when this was all over, we’d have a cup of tea.” she says, clinking her mug with his. “And I’m making good on that promise.”

Leo wraps an arm around Annabeth’s shoulder and clinks his mug against hers again before the two of them go in for the sip. 

Leo swallows the hot leaf juice and make a face at the aftertaste it leaves in his mouth. 

“Not great.”

“Not great at all.” Annabeth agrees. The two of them laugh. 

“I still appreciate the sentiment.” Leo tells her. “This is what confirms that we won.”

Annabeth smiles. “How about we try another flavor tomorrow? See if there’s any better ones before we return to our crazed coffee/redbull ways.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Now, what are you doing sitting over here? All your friends are out there waiting for you to join them!”

She pulls him up off the couch, and starts pushing through the crowd, announcing to everyone that a legend is coming through, so they better move out of the way. 

Once dragged all the way, Leo is happily embraced by his friends, and that all but confirms that his suspicions are true. He’s not alone, it just takes everyone a little while to see him the way he and a select few see him. 

You know it’s really hard to look directly at the sun, so Leo shouldn’t be surprised only a few people so far have been able to fully handle how bright Leo can shine. But he’s sure that in time, everyone will come around.

*

_The next day_

"Did you get her yet?"

"Not yet."

"Are you sure?"

Nico rolls his eyes, squeezing Leo's hands between his. "Stop being so impatient. I'm getting tension headaches from both of your ends. Just chill for a second, and I will get her."

"Sorry." Leo chuckles, letting Nico pull him further into the garage. "I'm just excited to see her."

Nico's face softens. "I know."

And without further ado, Nico does his ghostly thing. The room starts to shake, and Leo squeezes his eyes shut, anchoring himself and Nico to the earth. 

And when the shaking stops, Leo's breathing evens out and his body warms in his favorite way, the way he gets when he thinks about his mom. 

He opens eyes and drops Nico's hands, turning around to see her with the biggest smile on her face. 

"Mama, you'll never believe this. I kind of saved the world yesterday and I can't wait to tell you all about it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is folks! A finale to end this fic.  
> Aw wow. I can't believe it's really over. I know it took me a long ass time to write this whole thing and updates were scattered, but on my end, it felt like this was so quick.  
> I enjoyed writing this fic so much. It was like nothing I ever attempted before, and it really took me out of my comfort zone but I am so glad I did it! I felt like my dear Leo had a super story to be shared, and I had to be the one to tell it.  
> Thank you all for embracing this fic in all its quirkiness. I hope you fell in love with the characters like I did and enjoyed reading!  
> Thank you for all the supportive kudos and comments, they are very near and dear to my heart!  
> If you ever want to talk to me about my fics, or anything pjo/hoo related, or really anything at all - please hit me up on my tumblr at gracesjasons! It would make me so happy. 
> 
> I already have a plan for a new fic (p.s its percabeth get excited) so look out for that sometime soon!  
> And once again, thank you all for reading my story.  
> LETS DO THIS ONE MORE TIME BABY!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back with another fic!!!  
> WOOHOO!!  
> This has been brewing in my mind for so long and I'm genuinely so excited to write this fic. I have so many ideas and I hope that all of you enjoy this first chapter! I've never written anything like this before so I'm excited to attack this new genre and receive all of your comments and feedback along the way!  
> I will try and update regularly but as it is summer and I'm working a lot updates might be sporadic!  
> Definitely hit up my tumblr in between updates to motivate me or just talk about PJO/HOO at gracesjasons.tumblr.com!  
> Thank you for reading and another update will hopefully come soon!


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